if chris farley had strapped some fake mutton-chop sideburns to each side of his head , spoken with a thick irish accent , and tried his damnedest to play it straight , he wouldn't have been nearly as funny as brendan gleeson in " i went down . " gleeson , who's not dissimilar to the late " saturday night live " alumnus in terms of physical attributes , plays a character named bunny kelly in this delightful irish film . bunny is sent to county cork to " retrieve " one frank grogan for an irish gangster called tom french ( well dressed like all good gangsters should be and menacingly portrayed by tony doyle ) . bunny is to accompany git hynes ( peter mcdonald ) , recently released from prison and obligated to tom for disfiguring one of his cronies . that tom french is a mean bollocks . he wants frank back . and a small matter of some £25 , 000 that tom's wife was supposed to have given to frank . for this he won't break anyone's thumbs . maybe . inventively and engagingly written by conor mcpherson and directed by paddy breathnach , " i went down " follows the trials and tribulations of git and bunny as they knock around peat bogs , dimly-lit pubs , and seedy hostelries trying to stay alive and out of trouble . mcdonald is a newcomer and a promising one at that , but gleeson has been in over a dozen movies , most recently as father bubbles in another film with a very irish accent on hilarity , " the butcher boy . " even if you can't comprehend half of what they're saying , gleeson and mcdonald together make " i went down " a trip worth taking . the film is in many ways reminiscent of another " little " independent feature , 1991's " highway 61 . " that film , too , was a road movie and it shares the same kind of wry dialogue and humorous situations as mcpherson's tale : whimsical observations on life , carefully-crafted vignettes , deadpan conversational asides , and scenes that'll make you laugh out loud . witness the episode in which our good-natured protagonists bind frank ( played by peter caffrey ) to a hotel bed , leaving him with only the tv remote for company . 
