Breakfast on Pluto ambles along nicely, but feels as if it's never going to end.
Breakfast on Pluto (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:112
Fresh:63
Rotten:49
Average Rating:6.1/10
Consensus: Well-acted if monotonous drama about a transvestite prostitute in London during the 1970s.
Synopsis: Reuniting with writer Patrick McCabe, who co-scripted his acclaimed 1997 film THE BUTCHER BOY, Neil Jordan delivers another entertaining spectacle of a motion picture. Set in the United Kingdom... Reuniting with writer Patrick McCabe, who co-scripted his acclaimed 1997 film THE BUTCHER BOY, Neil Jordan delivers another entertaining spectacle of a motion picture. Set in the United Kingdom during the tumultuous 1960s and ‘70s, BREAKFAST ON PLUTO tells the story of Patrick "Kitten" Braden (an electrifying Cillian Murphy), an orphan from a small Irish town who dreams of escaping his drab surroundings. Though his orphan status is enough to make him an outsider, Patrick's gleeful decision to become the cross-dressing Androgynous Kitten sends him into the outside world for good. He ends up at the trailer home of traveling musician Billy Rock (Gavin Friday), who is hiding weapons used by the IRA in a series of vicious attacks. After an unexpected tragedy, Kitten says farewell to Ireland and heads for the glamorous, rough-and-tumble streets of London, where she faces hatred and hardship in equal measure. Through it all, Kitten somehow retains her unwavering spirit, teaching a valuable lesson about staying hopeful and optimistic in the face of harsh degradation. Murphy's portrayal of the fiercely flamboyant Kitten is a sight to behold. Beautiful as a man, Murphy's appearance takes on an even more ethereal glow as a woman. Adding greater weight to the proceedings are the performances from Jordan regulars Liam Neeson and Stephen Rea, as well as Ruth Negga, Laurence Kinlan, and real-life musician Friday. Filled with a staggering amount of great pop songs from that legendary era, BREAKFAST ON PLUTO is an inspiring ode to individual human spirit. [More]
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Liam Neeson, Laurence Kinlan, Stephen Rea
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Liam Neeson, Laurence Kinlan, Stephen Rea
Director: Neil Jordan
Director: Neil Jordan
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Reviews for Breakfast on Pluto
It's a film in and of its own world, sparked by a wicked performance full of wide-eyed wonder.
The film does not shy away from the chaos or the madness available, but you could see a love letter to Ireland in Kitten’s indomitable spirit. It’s a letter you’ll enjoy reading.
Pure blarney, but it's well-meaning blarney, told by a master cinematic storyteller and boasting an eye-catching lead performance.
The overall film lacks a sense of urgency, as if Patrick had all the time in the world to get where he's going.
[A] playful, meandering, dreamily comic and yearning story about Irish transvestite Patrick 'Kitten' Braden.
Thanks to a feathery script and Murphy's sentimental, love-me performance, the bustling conceits of Breakfast turn into a load of burnt toast, sprinkled with glitter and sugar.
Ultimately, the film's detachment is its inspired idea and its inherent problem.
We're handed 36 separate chapters in the life of an androgynous sunbeam, but the whimsy is like a piece of caramel lodged between two of your back teeth: a sweet irritant.
By the time the movie finally creaks to a close, you may feel like it's taken a lifetime to learn about Kitten's.
Jordan takes his fey protagonist the most seriously of all, picturing him as just about the most perfect and true creature in the universe.
It seems like a simple movie, but it means more the more you think about it.
Flitting through 22 chapters in the first hour alone, it feels like someone trying to speed-read through a bad novel the size of War & Peace.
An ungodly mess of a picture which plays like a Frankenstein-ish cross between an Irish Forrest Gump and a less cohesive version of the already inaccessible Velvet Goldmine.
You'll be singing along to the soundtrack of Neil Jordan's enchanting Breakfast on Pluto, which boasts the most felicitous use of wall-to-wall pop songs I've ever heard.
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