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The Legend of Barney Thomson

The Legend of Barney Thomson

Comedy · Drama · 2015

Barney Thomson, awkward, diffident, Glasgow barber, lives a life of desperate mediocrity and his uninteresting life is about to go from 0 to 60 in five seconds, as he enters the grotesque and comically absurd world of the serial killer.

Movie details

The Legend of Barney Thomson

2015 Comedy · Drama 1h 36m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.1 / 10

Community rating

Barney Thomson, awkward, diffident, Glasgow barber, lives a life of desperate mediocrity and his uninteresting life is about to go from 0 to 60 in five seconds, as he enters the grotesque and comically absurd world of the serial killer.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Legend of Barney Thomson?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Robert Carlyle

Written by

Richard Cowan · Colin McLaren

Robert Carlyle

Robert Carlyle

Barney

Emma Thompson

Emma Thompson

Cemolina

Ray Winstone

Ray Winstone

Holdall

Ashley Jensen

Ashley Jensen

Detective Inspector June Robertson

James Cosmo

James Cosmo

James Henderson

Tom Courtenay

Tom Courtenay

Chief Superintendent McManaman

Kevin Guthrie

Kevin Guthrie

MacPherson

Court is in session

Put The Legend of Barney Thomson on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.