The story concerns a hapless civil servant who gets more than he bargained for when he moves into an apartment with a gay fashion student and finds himself on the catwalk. The film sets out ... Read allThe story concerns a hapless civil servant who gets more than he bargained for when he moves into an apartment with a gay fashion student and finds himself on the catwalk. The film sets out to explore the difficulties young people have in keeping their identities in a fast-moving... Read allThe story concerns a hapless civil servant who gets more than he bargained for when he moves into an apartment with a gay fashion student and finds himself on the catwalk. The film sets out to explore the difficulties young people have in keeping their identities in a fast-moving culture of drugs and clubs.
- Awards
- 5 wins & 3 nominations total
- Vincent Cusack
- (as Alan Leech)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
This cleverly written Irish drama is highly entertaining and realistic. But it's tilted just a few degrees off axis making it fresh and unpredictable. This is familiar subject matter given a genuine makeover with a few Irish twists. It's the sort of film that makes wading through all the junk at film festivals worthwhile.
On a more technical level, it never feels particularly low budget. The lead actors do a very credible job. The cinematography is honest and the sound, in particular, is way above average for this genre. There are a few stray threads hanging off the seams here and there, but the story and main characters are easily captivating enough to keep your attention elsewhere.
Others obviously consider this a gay themed movie but I don't agree. There's no gay romance and only a brief moments or hints of gay intimacy. There might be a tiny element of "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy" here, but it's just one of many small subplots. It's much more a coming of age movie--and, as such, it clearly excels.
After some queer-eye advice from the popular, outgoing Victor (new haircut, new wardrobe, new attitude), Shane begins to emerge from his shell. But an incidental friendship with the drug dealer who lives downstairs threatens to wreck his life just as it is beginning to come together.
Refreshingly, Cowboys and Angels uses its characters as people, not types, on its way to detailing Shane's gradual coming-of-age. Even with its brief running time, the movie feels slight and padded: The story technically ends 10 minutes before the movie does. But the lack of the expected gay-straight clichés puts you in a forgiving mood, and Gleeson's upbeat, humanist approach takes care of the rest.
Did you know
- TriviaWriter/director David Gleeson had worked in the Department of Agriculture office where the scenes in the movie were filmed. Some of the extras are the people with whom he used to work.
- GoofsWhen they are behind bars, Vincent told Shane that he can't believe that he was caught by the police because of a joint smoking. He said that it was his first time to smoke a joint and that he even don't smoke, where in their first meet up with Shane while telling the story of his trip to France in 1997 he was smoking and you can see that he was kind a pro with it.
- ConnectionsFeatured in 2005 Glitter Awards (2005)
- SoundtracksSatellite
Performed by San Dusky
Written by Brijitte West
Published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing (UK) Ltd
- How long is Cowboys & Angels?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $2,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime
- 1h 29m(89 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1