Colin Farrell (left) enjoys an ice cream with cohort Brendan Gleeson during their time "In Bruges."

If you buy a ticket for "In Bruges," make sure you like your humor dark and your violence messy. Otherwise you might not be in for an enjoyable time.

"Bruges" (pronounced "brooshe") stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson ("Braveheart," "28 Days Later") as a couple of hitmen laying low after Farrell inadvertantly killed a young boy during a hit. Later, the duo's employer (Ralph Fiennes) drops by, and the shooting starts.

Writer/Director Martin McDonagh turns the film on its side about half way through, and the heat turns up considerably, leading to a chorus of blood and laughs and gunfight participants who are quite sure of the rules of battle and even have a code of ethics regarding children and innocent bystanders, and stop for discussion

Farrell is manic and raucous, and angry to be in what he sees as an undesirable older city, contrasting with Gleeson's reserved countenance, content to sightsee the historic burg.

The film has a dark wit about it; at one point a dwarf (Jordan Prentice) talks about an upcoming race war between blacks and whites over booze in a scene that culminates with Farrell karate-chopping him.

To say the film is moody is like saying Nicole Ritchie could use a sandwich. Farrell's character is stricken with grief over the killing of the little boy and contemplates suicide, and the film alternates between periods of little action and extreme bloodshed.

But it's an enjoyable ride, one that is refreshingly not formulaic and has the courage to be funny and dramatic and brutal, which amplifies the film's effectiveness and our connection to the characters.