Cowboys & Angels
Cowboys & Angels
NR | 17 September 2004 (USA)
Cowboys & Angels Trailers

This story concerns a hapless civil servant who gets more than he bargains for when he moves into an apartment in Limerick with a gay fashion student and becomes a star on the catwalk. A contemporary story embracing the essence of what it is to be young in today's Ireland.

Reviews
RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.
filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?
Usamah Harvey The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
bkoganbing The freshness and utterly natural appeal of leads Michael Legge and Allen Leech is the highlight of this Irish production about the friendship of a gay and straight pair of roommates.Leech is an openly gay young man with ambitions to be a fashion designer who wants eventually to go to New York to fulfill those dreams. In that field it's either New York or Paris. The housing shortage in Dublin puts these two together and they had a past acquaintanceship from school.Poor Legge is a shy and socially clumsy kid who has a dull civil service job. Leech takes him in hand and gives him a Queer Eye makeover, but gets a lot more than he could imagine as Legge befriends a pair of drug dealers in the same building and gets Dublin law enforcement looking at him. Both of them get romantic attention from previous unthought of sources as well.In the end Leech is the one who provides a way out of difficulties for both of them.In a country with a rigid homophobic and Catholic tradition of which it has come to grips with Cowboys&Angels is a delightful film about the Irish gay scene. The leads give natural and sincere performances and for gay audiences and a few straight people I recommend this film.
lasttimeisaw This is a story about pursuing your dreams. a young Irish boy, shared an apartment with a stylish gay student and had a crush on his beautiful female friend, also got involved with some drug dealers.The storyline is believable, the evolvement of the plot is intriguing and interesting. How the pure friendship can come into being between a gay man and a straight man? It's the most touching part of this film. The sexual orientation is just a stunt, the relationship of the two characters is well presented.About dreams, the young boy always wanted to be an artist as he had the talent of drawing, but the status quo made him a civil servant. Sometimes we dare not to change just because we are too lazy, or in lack of motivation. Always easier said than done, but taking action might not be so hard as we think. Maybe changing our sexual orientation is difficult, however changing our life to fulfill what you really want is feasible.On the other hand, the drug culture is inevitable to the young generation, the temptation makes it hard to decline. Making a wise choice seems vital then.The cast is good, Michael Legge and Allen Leech each gives a strong and memorable performance, the chemistry between them is pleasant and adorable. Amy Shiels is amazingly beautiful in this film.I highly recommend this film to everyone who are wandering how their lives are going to be and I think it's very useful.
ThrownMuse Two Irish lads move in together. Vincent is a well-balanced gay art student and Shane is a sheltered and shy civil servant. Through a makeover a la "Queer Eye," Vincent helps Shane gain self-confidence. Unfortunately, Shane falls into the wrong crowd and starts trafficking drugs. Is this a makeover movie (complete with themes about being true to yourself) or a movie about the Irish drug scene? It tries to be both, but it never finds a good balance. It ultimately strives to be about the relationship between the two young men, but it never really succeeds because the relationship is never fully developed for the viewer. This problem could have been easily avoided--two very endearing deleted scenes should have been kept in the film for sure. There are some random scenes that seem to come out of nowhere, but it all pieces together nicely (perhaps too nicely) in the end. The lead character does some awful things, like being part of a hit and run where a woman is terribly injured and a man is severely beaten when trying to call the cops, but in the end it is all okay because he's a likable guy with a fabulous gay roommate who has unexpectedly got the hook-up. Oh, please. Still, the overall theme of being yourself and true to yourself is great, even if the movie goes about expressing it in a half-assed way. And both lead actors are irresistibly cute.
annblake1978 Have to say i enjoyed watching this one. It was a lot of fun to watch a film set in Limerick being from here and recognising a couple of faces. Not a good enough reason I know, don't imagine I'd have had as much time for it otherwise. The dialogue and acting was a bit stilted at times and the plot had quite a few holes in it.(Also people don't tend to wave ecstasy tablets around in the air listing their ingredients and then slap them down on the bar for their mate to pick up.) However, it's good to watch an Irish film about students and young people that's not overly self conscious and aware of being Oirish. It isn't too ambitious and achieves what it sets out to do, tell a simple coming of age story. It also depicts the city pretty accurately, it doesn't try to make it look like New York and it shows a couple of the undesirables who earn the place its reputation. Whatever you may think of this movie it's got a nice little feel good factor. Supermac's never looked so good nor its lighting so flattering. Hope to see more Irish films exploring the country and showing various aspects of life in 21st century Ireland. Here's to filming more movies in locations other than Belfast, Dublin or Wicklow.