But you still gotta do something about those eyebrows, man ... : "In Bruges"

Are you sitting down? (He asked sarcastically.) I'm not a big fan of Colin Farrell. Kind of like I'm not a big fan of having my family jewels struck by one of those grazing shots that cause a hell of a lot more agony than a full-on blast. (You know this is true.)

So it was with some trepidation that I followed my pal Louie's recommendation from a while back to see "In Bruges." Yeah, I know Farrell won a Golden Globe. But c'mon ... have you seen this so-called star's filmography? Forget all that "Alexander" and "Miami Vice" bullsh*t. I've seen more Farrell movies than I care to admit, including "S.W.A.T." and (cringe) "Phone Booth." I can safely say that he was OK in "Minority Report" and at his best in ... wait for it ... "Daredevil." Seriously, even though he looks like Andre Agassi, he's the best thing by far in that movie. Well, besides Jennifer Garner's cleavage.

Are you sitting down? (He asked in all seriousness. I mean it ... find a chair.) Within the first 10 minutes of "In Bruges," I loved Colin Farrell. And unlike "Daredevil," he had a real movie around him this time, and one that you should see.

Our man from Dublin plays a young Irishman -- stretch -- whose new career as a hitman is derailed by him shooting a young boy on his first job. He and his partner, the consummate pro Brendan Gleeson, are exiled temporarily to the Belgian village of Bruges, which their boss (Ralph Fiennes) thinks is rather charming. Gleeson goes along with this. Farrell, not so much, and his initial comments are pretty funny.

Despite the pall of this boy's death and these guys' unsavory jobs, we get a dark comedy that more than once reminded me of the highly entertaining "After Hours." Just as Scorsese treated Griffin Dunne to weird episode after weird episode, our duo get tangled up in some oddball stuff. Things are more violent here, but that gives this movie a nice edge that works quite well.

All three leads are really good. Fiennes eats up the hothead mob boss part, similar to Ben Kingsley in "Sexy Beast." Menacing? You betcha. Gleeson is the pensive veteran hitman, trying to enjoy Bruges while managing a tough situation. Farrell is just trying to make sense of what happened, oscillating between petty bickering and a total breakdown. And dammit if he isn't pretty good.

Yeah, you could say I was surprised by how much I enjoyed "In Bruges." Throw in a dwarf on horse drugs who hangs with prostitutes, and you can't lose, even with those out-of-control eyebrows on the moody man from the Emerald Isle.