Adam & Paul

SYNOPSIS

A downbeat comedy or slapstick tragedy, depending on which way you look at it, this Irish movie has been pithily likened to Samuel Beckett on smack. Adam and Paul (played by screenwriter Mark O'Halloran and Tom Murphy, respectively) are two Dublin junkies, a classic large-and-little act. The story follows them over the course of a seemingly ordinary day as they pursue a fix, encountering en route friends, acquaintances and strangers, most of them hostile. Although watching the physical ravages of heroin withdrawal borders on the nauseating at times, the tone here is more quietly observant rather than judgemental. The script and Lenny Abrahamson's direction extract considerable comedy out of the duo's picaresque adventures, which are spiked by moments of absurdity, coincidence and even tenderness. Deadpan and droll, the leads - particularly Murphy - have an easy chemistry that generates considerable charm.