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 . 
that sequence alone is on a par with satan locking himself out of his car in " highway 61 . " 
what's also charming about " i went down " is how the relationship between buddy and git develops . 
their trip becomes an education for both of them , but the way it's handled is neither sappy nor labored . 
the only thing in the film which approaches clunkiness is the culminating explanation , via flashbacks , of the relationship between frank and tom . 
it's a little too hollywood , and what makes " i went down " so refreshing is the fact that it rarely panders to traditional conventions of hollywood gangster movies . 
sure it's gritty--make that grubby--but it's also pretty goofy . 
although " i went down " emphasizes the comedic elements of dis-organized crime , there are a couple of fairly brutal scenes in keeping with the subject matter . 
don't let these deter you , though ; " i went down " is a little gem . 
it's only playing at one philadelphia-area theater--and i suspect it won't be there for long--so catch it while you can . 
