Plot
A British soldier is kidnaped by IRA terrorists. He befriends one of his captors, who is drawn into the soldier's world.

Release Year: 1992

Rating: 7.3/10 (25,590 voted)

Critic's Score: 90/100

Director: Neil Jordan

Stars: Stephen Rea, Jaye Davidson, Forest Whitaker

Storyline
An unlikely kind of friendship develops between Fergus, an Irish Republican Army volunteer, and Jody, a kidnapped British soldier lured into an IRA trap by Jude, another IRA member. When the hostage-taking ends up going horribly wrong, Fergus escapes and heads to London, where he seeks out Jody's lover, a hairdresser named Dil. Fergus adopts the name "Jimmy" and gets a job as a day laborer. He also starts seeing Dil, who knows nothing about Fergus' IRA background. But there are some things about Dil that Fergus doesn't know, either...

Cast:
Forest Whitaker - Jody
Miranda Richardson - Jude
Stephen Rea - Fergus
Adrian Dunbar - Maguire
Breffni McKenna - Tinker (as Breffini McKenna)
Joe Savino - Eddie
Birdy Sweeney - Tommy (as Birdie Sweeney)
Jaye Davidson - Dil
Andrée Bernard - Jane (as Andree Bernard)
Jim Broadbent - Col
Ralph Brown - Dave
Tony Slattery - Deveroux
Jack Carr - Franknum
Josephine White - Bar Performer 1
Shar Campbell - Bar Performer 2

Taglines: Play At Your Own Risk.

Release Date: 25 November 1992

Filming Locations: 100 Eaton Place, Belgravia, London, England, UK

Box Office Details

Budget: £2,300,000 (estimated)

Gross: $62,549,000 (USA)

Runtime: 112 min

Trivia:
Producer Stephen Woolley owned a repertory cinema in London called the "Scala", when there were funding issues with the film Woolley ended up borrowing money from the Scala to keep the production afloat.

Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: During the street assassination scene a sub-machine gun is used to attack officials entering a car; however, despite the wild spray of bullets and several officials on both sides of the car being hit, no glass breaks in any of the windows and there is no indication of any damage to the body of the car.

Quotes:
[first lines]
Jody: [playing ring toss at a carnival] Right.
[tosses a ring]
Jody: That.
[tosses a ring]
Jody: And that. And that is cricket, hon.
Jody: [wins a large teddy bear] Do you want it?
Jude: Sure!
Jody: [hands her the teddy bear] Doesn't matter if you don't. You know I won't be offended. Jody's never offended. What'd you say your name was?
Jude: Jude.
[...]

One of the most shocking and original movies of 1992. ***1/2 (out of four)

Rating: 9/10

THE CRYING GAME / (1992) ***1/2 (out of four) By Blake French:

I admire Neil Jordan for contributing his vastly original ideas to theater screens, as do I admire the Academy Awards, who appropriately rewarded "The Crying Game" with the best original screenplay Oscar in 1992. The film also earned nominations for best picture, director, leading and supporting actors, and editing. Jordan's style of filmmaking feels consistent over the years. "The Crying Game" offers the usual flavor of Jordan, but also incorporates unexpected, ninety degree twists that change the pace of his story altogether.

"The Crying Game" begins in Northern Ireland, where the IRA takes prisoner a British soldier named Jody (Forest Whitaker). Among the team of committed terrorists is the quiet Fergus (Stephen Rea), and the seductive Jude (Miranda Richardson), who guard Jody in an isolated forest shelter. As Fergus continually watches Jody, the two become begin to like one another. Jody knows that his tragic fate nears, therefore, shows Fergus a photograph of his romantic interest, who lives back in London. He asks Fergus to look her up sometime if he ever gets the chance.

The movie takes a ridged, unexpected turn, and the next time we see Fergus, he is living as a construction worker in London under a new name. He finds the soldier's girlfriend working at a beauty salon. Her name is Dil (Jaye Davidson). Fergus gets a haircut, and follows her to a nearby bar, then the next thing we know the two are deeply in love. But Dil has a secret-and so does Fergus. What would Dil think if she knew her new lover was responsible for her late boyfriend's death?

Stephen Rae is the best thing in the movie, interlocking the several separate plots with a concrete narrative. The film takes his point of view, and does so consistently. This is essential, since we learn information as he does-a classic yet extraordinarily effective method of keeping an audience involved. Here, Jordan celebrates a clean story, but reveals information about certain characters that change the entire direction of the story, while keeping the important material in play. That is not easy.

"The Crying Game" is not for everyone-it's a hard, perverse movie with enough content to warrant several R ratings. The sexual content is unexpected and distorted, but stunningly original. Three minutes do not pass before a character casually utters the notorious four-letter word. Even the violence is aggressive and graphic. "The Crying Game" takes no prisoners, so hold on tight and come prepared for the ride.

I think the film could have investigated the relationship between Dil and Jody with more detail. We learn how Jody feels about Dil, but Dil resists sharing her feelings about Jody. Is this done for a purpose? I think so. Neil Jordan is not the kind of director who would leave out massive plot nuggets like this, especially in a movie as deliberate and complex as "The Crying Game." However, Dil feels a little shallow in this area. With a little more emotion and dimension, she could have been even more intriguing. Jaye Davidson does a great job with the character, however, which probably explains why this element of the story has not received many other complaints.

"The Crying Game" was certainly one of the most original movies to hit theaters in 1992, and deserved many of its award nominations and wins. Neil Jordan bravely takes us through controversial material, while at the same time, keeps us focused on the main points of the movie. He keeps the audience in his grasp the whole way through-something all directors should strive to accomplish.

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