Rat (12) Selected Cinemas

For some reason, with the notable exception of Neil Jordan's The Butcher Boy, recent Irish cinema has tended not to draw on this country's strong literary tradition of black comedy and absurdism - it even took an Austrian to take on the challenge of filming Flann O'Brien's At- Swim-Two-Birds. All the more reason, then, to welcome the remarkable Rat, the first feature script from Wesley Burrowes, which makes one wish Burrowes had given up his soap-writing job earlier to concentrate on the movies.

Set in the Dublin suburb of Kimmage, in an indeterminate period somewhere between the mid-1960s and early 1980s, Rat tells the story of breadman Hubert Flynn (Pete Postlethwaite), who comes home from the pub one evening and turns into a small white rat, to the intense irritation of his long-suffering wife Conchita (Imelda Staunton), loving daughter Marietta (Kerry Conden) and priest-to-be son Pius (Andrew Lovern). An ambitious young journalist (David Wilmot) arrives on the Flynn doorstep, offering to write a book about Hubert's remarkable transformation, and ends up moving in, setting the scene for a drama of family conspiracy, attempted patricide and lots of rodent jokes. Meanwhile, Uncle Matt (Frank Kelly), Conchita's oracular brother, offers the dubious benefits of his wide-ranging knowledge from the sidelines.

Like all good fantasy writers, Burrowes creates a world which the viewer comes to accept very quickly - the offhand, slightly bemused way in which the community copes with Hubert's transformation seems perfectly normal to the viewer within a few minutes. At the core of the film is Staunton's superb performance as the resentful, conniving, sometimes regretful Conchita.

What makes Rat such a highly original treat is its unusual blending of comic fantasy with kitchen sink naturalism and black farce. Director Steve Barron has a background in glossy, effects-driven fare such as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie and the TV mini-series Merlin, so it comes as something of a surprise to see how well he evokes the dowdy atmosphere of the Dublin inner suburbs (perhaps it helps that his own family are from Terenure, just down the road from Kimmage). Unlike, say, the execrable Agnes Browne, Rat reeks of the authentic city, despite the fact that its main protagonist is six inches long with pink eyes.

With cinematographer Brendan Galvin setting the action against an effective, muted palette of autumnal browns and sepias, the overall impression is of soap opera gone mad (not surprisingly, perhaps, given Burrowes's position as Ireland's greatest soap writer). While there are some animatronics effects (provided by the Jim Henson Company), these are never allowed to dominate the story, apart from one marvellously well-achieved chase through the city centre streets. The focus instead is on the larger-than-life but still strangely recognisable characters: Kelly, in particular, has great fun with the role of the pompous Uncle Matt, a figure who bears more than a passing resemblance to Myles na Gopaleen's The Brother.

Indeed, the influence of Myles can be seen clearly in Rat's very Dublin-ish brand of surrealism, its pursuit of logic to absurd extremes and (most importantly) in its many flights of verbal comic brilliance. This is a film at which it is very difficult not to laugh out loud, and which, despite its period setting, seems oddly contemporary (comparisons with Being John Malkovich are not entirely misplaced). Defying genre, upsetting expectations, this little gem deserves to find a substantial audience.

Hugh Linehan

Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (15) General Release

Big blockbuster comedies tend to be less of a laugh with each new sequel. But following the call of the cash - the $270 million made at the box office last time - the people behind The Nutty Professor are back with a product they hope will "shift units" over the next few weeks.

Nutty Professor II sees Eddie Murphy back in multiple roles, playing with great versatility the various members of the overweight Klump family. The plot centres on the loveable, shy, and let's face it, fat, science professor Sherman Klump, and his romantic aspirations towards his university colleague, Denise, (Janet Jackson). Just when it looks like Sherman is going to get the girl, his mischievous alter ego, Buddy Love, returns to frustrate his plans.

Employing Denise's cutting-edge DNA research, Sherman decides to extract the troublesome Buddy Love part of his DNA make-up, and so rid himself of his disruptive riotous outbursts once and for all. Incredible DNA technology and a formula for eternal youth; if there was anymore hotchpotch "science" in Nutty Professor II we'd have a Frankenstein movie on our hands.

While the film is undoubtedly very funny in parts, it is somewhat sprawling and incoherent. Also the indistinct diction of Murphy's characters makes it hard to follow at times; a problem that may be put down to the difficulty of acting underneath all that make-up. However, if scatological humour, burping, and adolescent sexual jokes are to your liking, then Nutty Professor II might just be for you.

Ian Kilroy

Where the Money Is (15) General Release

Conceived as a fast-paced caper movie, Where the Money Is stars Paul Newman as the bank robber, Henry, who feigns a stroke and cons his way out of prison and into a nursing home to reclaim his stash of cash from a job done years previously. On the outside, Henry finds himself double-crossed. He forges an unusual alliance with Carol (Linda Fiorentino), a nurse at the home who is bored with her job and her marriage, and together with Carol's husband, they plan the heist of a lifetime and net millions of dollars in cash. But typically, in this genre, there is one rat in the gang.

Where the Money Is boasts a strong cast in Newman and Fiorentino, but the movie is let down by a weak and predictable script that is somewhat repetitive and far-fetched. The risks that nurse Carol takes to expose Henry's stroke as a sham are not credible, and the film dabbles distastefully in male nurse fantasies at times; why do American movies have to treat sex in such a predictable fashion?

The first part of the film is something like Awakenings with a twist - the paralysed man in care is only letting on. We know early on what Newman's character is up to, and the plot takes too long to reveal what we have already guessed.

That said, Where the Money Is is better than the usual big budget fare. But even actors of the standard of Newman and Fiorentino can only save a repetitive and predictable script to a very minor degree. This is instantly forgettable stuff, a good idea so badly written and so badly paced that it will quickly go to video.

Ian Kilroy