“Pixie” Movie Review by Josh Davis : Pop Culture Leftovers

“Pixie” Movie Review by Josh Davis

March 18, 2021 5:21 pm |

“Pixie” is your basic girl-meets-boy, then meets another boy, then double crosses both boys during a drug deal involving gangster priests, story. And that’s just the first five minutes.

The film opens with Pixie Hardy (Olivia Cooke, “Ready Player One,” “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl”) standing over the grave of her mother. The inscription on her tombstone reads “As always she went wild into the night.”

Pixie promises her mother that she’ll “set a bomb under this town for what they did to you,” and as the screen fades to black a title card pops up to exclaim: “ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST … OF IRELAND.”

In case it wasn’t clear just yet, “Pixie” is a blend of absurdist dark comedy and a bloody action-caper in the style of “Trainspotting,” “True Romance” and “Gross Pointe Blank.”

After two would-be suiters of Pixie rob a country church holding 15 kilos of MDMA, the pair bites the dust on the ride back and the loot, apparently worth around $1 million euros, ends up in the hands of two young men … who each also long to court the elusive and rowdy Pixie.

Frank McCullen (Ben Hardy, “X-Men: Apocalypse,” “EastEnders”) and Harland McKenna (Daryl McCormack, “Peaky Blinders”) hit the road with Pixie and together they try to sell the drugs. Things don’t go well and, before long, there’s a pile of bodies in their wake.

The film also stars Colm Meaney (“Hell on Wheel”) as Pixie’s stepdad Dermot O’Brien, and Alec Baldwin (“30 Rock”) as Father Hector McGrath, the overlord of the drug-dealing Irish clergy.

The gorgeous Irish countryside and raucous soundtrack of amphetamine-fueled folk music also costar. But, this is Cooke’s movie through and through, the same way “Trainspotting” belonged to Ewan McGregor.

Cooke, during the last few years, is on an absolute tear staring in great indie movies from “Thoroughbreds” to “Sound of Metal,” to 2021’s “Little Fish.” She’s a chameleon of an actor who, at her best, exudes a kind of wicked charm and intelligence that’s all her own.

In “Pixie,” Cooke appears to be having a blast showing off a roguish Irish accent and dancing circles around everyone near her. She’s always one step and one clever idea ahead, and she’s by far the reason why the movie succeeds in being so much fun.

Writer Preston Thompson (“Kids in Love”) gives Cooke just enough to chew on and director Barnaby Thompson (best known as a producer of films like “Wayne’s World” and “Spice World”) gets out of the way and lets Cooke shine – and that’s just what she does.

“Pixie” is a fun, breezy, quick-witted, wonky caper of a film that showcases the untouched Irish scenery, and, more than anything, the talents of Cooke.

It’s a fun ride at just 91 minutes, and it keeps Cooke’s sterling streak of fine indie films alive.

PCL Rating: High Taste It

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: FRESH