Aside from some fine acting by Brendan Gleeson, I can't see a whole lot to recommend this film to the average viewer. However, if you have been hurt by the Catholic Church and just want to see a random priest killed, then perhaps you'll enjoy "Calvary".

The film begins with a priest, Father Lavelle (Gleeson) in the confessional about to listen to someone's confession. However, instead of asking forgiveness, the person on the other side tells the priest that he was molested as a child by a priest--and for that, he was going to murder Father Lavelle--even though Lavelle didn't do it and the man admits that the Father isn't the perpetrator. And, for the rest of the film, you see the priest trying to do his job in perhaps the most hellish town on Earth. Almost everyone in this town is evil or miserable. In fact, after a while, it almost made me laugh because it was such a one-dimensional place. And, none of it really made any sense. There's the strange rich guy who invites the priest over and then proceeds to urinate all over one of his expensive paintings. Then, there's the old writer who wants the priest to give him a gun so he can shoot himself. And, there are lots of other lovely folks--including an openly gay priest who hangs out with a guy who constantly mocks God (???),an angry perverted doctor, a cannibal (yes, a cannibal) as well as the priest's suicidal daughter (he became a priest after his wife died). No one in the town seems decent or real--all are angry and spend the entire movie mocking God and Father Lavelle. Ultimately, by the end of the film, the guy at the beginning returns and blows the priest's brains out in a very vivid scene. I normally don't insert spoilers, but the scene is so vivid and gruesome that I think you need to be forewarned.

My only way to make sense of all this is that the folks making this film truly despise the Catholic Church. I myself am not Catholic and am angry at the way this organization covered up years of pedophile priests--and would love to see more films that address this. But, this does not mean that I'd take pleasure at seeing a priest brutally murdered for my entertainment! I cannot even imagine most atheists enjoying this!! The bottom line is that I kept watching and hoping it would all make sense--the one-dimensional characters, the anger and the threat to kill the man. But, ultimately, the film just seemed to take pleasure in nihilism and awfulness. And, I keep wondering WHO is the audience for "Calvary"?! Rarely have I seen a film this offensive and seemingly pointless. Perhaps I'm missing something...but I doubt it.

CALVARY is a disappointing and depressing Irish drama about a Catholic priest in Ireland struggling with life in the present day. He finds himself the subject of a death threat thanks to one of his congregation who was abused by another priest as a child and encounters characters with various hang-ups who seem to delight in taking their problems out on him.

I had a feeling that this wouldn't make for much in the way of entertainment and I was right. CALVARY is a gloomy and pointless movie that seems to be destined to assuage Catholic guilt more than anything else. There's no real story here, just the main character interacting with other characters before an inevitable outcome. No shock, no surprise, no involvement, just endless nihilism.

The one thing the film has going for it is Brendan Gleeson in the lead role. He's big and warm-hearted and keeps you watching despite his character's deficiencies. The supporting cast is less assured. Kelly Reilly is unconvincing as the supposedly sympathetic daughter character while Chris O'Dowd is out of place and acting rather than living his role. Aiden Gillen is reliably sinister. M. Emmet Walsh has a random cameo. I knew Domhnall Gleeson would show up somewhere and he doesn't have much to offer either. If I want gritty Irish realism I think I'll stick to something like ADAM & PAUL in future.

Father James (Brendan Gleeson) is a priest in a small seaside Irish town. A man comes to confessional to reveal his rape by a priest at the age of 7 and his plan to kill James because it would be more shocking to kill an innocent. James believes he knows the identity of the man. The town is full of troubled people. Then his daughter Fiona (Kelly Reilly) comes to visit him after a failed suicide attempt.

Brendan Gleeson is wonderful as this priest struggling under the weight of this problem. I love that this priest isn't gay or a pedophile or any of the hot-button issues. He is simply a man who's dealing with everybody else's problems. It shows the hard work that the priesthood could represent. When his daughter arrives, it also shows that he has a troubled past. It also works as a mystery of who the killer is going to be. I do wish Father James would dig up something that could clue the audience into the identity of the mystery man.