Tall Tales and Murder; Stick

“Tall Tales and Murder is likely to elicit varied responses from viewers, but boredom will surely be low on the list. This Irish caper – based on the first of the Dublin Trilogy novels by Caimh McDonnell, and written for TV by Stuart Carolan – moves at a mile a minute, taking in disgruntled gangsters; a dysfunctional care home; buried treasure; bedroom cuckoldry; a Paul Mescal lookalike contest and much more. Billed as a Bonnie and Clyde-style escapade, there are hints of Channel 4’s offbeat hit The End of the F***ing World, BBC Scotland’s thriller Guilt, and even a less elaborate Da Vinci Code in this tale of ill-gotten, church-adjacent gains. It comes with much prestige attached, too: Carolan is the man behind Irish TV hit Love/Hate, and the series was co-created by Chris Addison of The Thick of It and Veep fame.”
Hannah J Davies, The Guardian

“The six-part series (first shown in Northern Ireland on Monday) is based on Caimh McDonnell’s crime novel A Man With One Of Those Faces, though the adaptation takes such liberties and veers in such strange directions that it’s now more of a Gothic horror comedy. Its opening half-hour was disjointed, with a second, apparently unconnected story running in parallel.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“There is instant chemistry between Bridget and Paul, more of a smart aleck, boozing ne’er-do-well than hardened criminal, although there are guns and beatings in this story. The ensemble includes the Game of Thrones actor Aidan Gillen’s mysterious Grinner, who lurches into life — quite literally, given that he starts most of the first episode in a coma — with a treasure map tattooed on his chest. The madness doesn’t abate across the six episodes, and it is seriously unhinged at times. But for the most part [director Chris] Addison doesn’t let the chaos overwhelm the story, allowing the underlying compassion and comedy to breathe. You may need a lie down afterwards though.”
Ben Dowell, The Times

“Pryce Cahill (Owen Wilson) isn’t worried about his midlife crisis. “Moses had a crisis! Churchill had a crisis! Charlie Sheen had a crisis!” We’re not worrying, either: Pryce has been living fairly happily through a midlife crisis for as long as we’ve known him, which is for the one previous season of the superficially inessential yet sneakily deeply emotional golf comedy Stick. Stick is the sort of chummy hangout show you need in your carefully curated weekly culture roster, a half-hour indulgence that’s like twisting open a cold one and sinking into a couch. It washes all those prestige dramas and dark documentaries down nicely.”
Jack Seale, The Guardian