Peter McDonald stars in I Went Down as a sad-sack ex-con who, upon his release from prison, immediately gets into trouble with a local mobster (Tony Doyle). Doyle then teams him with a more boisterous small-time hood (Brendan Gleeson) and sends them on a mission to retrieve a dandyish gangster (Peter Caffrey) with whom he has an unknown beef. I Went Down was a massive hit in its native Ireland, where it was hailed as an Irish response to Trainspotting and Pulp Fiction. While I Went Down shares with those films its affection for both talky lowlifes and the odd New Wave stylistic device, it's a far subtler, more low-key affair, an agreeably character-driven gangster comedy that's modest and consistently amusing, if not particularly memorable. A good deal of the film's charm comes from McDonald's enormously likable performance in the lead. Playing the protagonist as a meek, luckless bastard at the whims of a random and sadistic world, he gives his character the wounded vulnerability of an injured deer. McDonald and Gleeson maintain a pleasantly low-key chemistry throughout the film, but I Went Down is stolen by Caffrey, who gives a hilarious performance as a talkative, manipulative gang boss who, in one of the film's funniest running gags, is inordinately proud of the fact that he has graduated from college and can therefore attach the letters BA to his name. I Went Down won't change your life, but there are far less agreeable ways to spend an hour and a half.