"I put the punk in punctual"
Andy
Dublin Crust is a 2023 Irish Dramedy, written and directed by Baz Black.
The eponymous Dublin Crust were a Punk Rock band formed in the 90s, but dissolved ten years previously when their screw-up of a drummer Bonehead (also played by Baz Black) ended up in prison for armed robbery. He's just been released, having also kicked his drug habit, and wants to put Crust back together for one last reunion gig.
Also stars Leanne Bickerdike, Rob McCarthy, Louise McCann, Joe Rooney, Andy Byrne and Eddie Nil.
Tropes:
- The '90s: The opening is a montage of clips from 90s Dublin, as well as old footage of the band.
- Age-Gap Romance: Tania was previously with Terrence, and had a son with him, and there appears to be a good ten years between them.
- All Drummers Are Animals: Bonehead fit the trope in his youth - as the wildest member of the group - but he has matured completely and gotten clean now.
- Bad Boss: Andy's boss Jeremy is an insufferable Hate Sink who tries to make him miss the reunion gig just because.
- Bar Brawl: It wouldn't be a movie about a punk band without a brawl in the bar between the members and a group of Jerkasses harrassing women. Gerry misses the whole thing while in the toilet.
- Book Ends: The film begins and ends with a quote about Crust's influence.
- Brief Accent Imitation: Mickey does a Scottish accent when quoting Braveheart.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer:
- Mickey introduces a producer who's an outright New-Age Retro Hippie who apparently was paid in crystals, but helps make "All That's Gold" a surprise hit on the radio.
- Bonehead's actual lawyer is a double subversion. He's utterly incompetent and strung out on drugs during the trial, resulting in his sentence. But in the present, he ends up representing Terrence for drug dealing and gets him off!
- Contrived Coincidence: When Terrence is in court for dealing, he not only has the same lawyer who represented Bonehead in his trial, he's in front of the same judge too.
- Delinquent Hair: Tania styles her hair into a mohawk for the gig, marking quite a change from her respectable bob haircut elsewhere in the film.
- Dublin Skanger: Mickey fits the comedy variant - portrayed as a lovable doofus - and has the aesthetic of a baseball cap and tracksuit wardrobe.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Bonehead is Sanguine, Eddie is Choleric, Terrence is Melancholic, Andy is Phlegmatic.
- Hairstyle Inertia: Bonehead is shown to have had a similar mohawk hairstyle in the 90s, and his hair didn't change between prison and release.
- Incurable Cough of Death: Bonehead coughing a few times throughout the film signals that something is up.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Although Bonehead's False Friend Jimmy dodged consequences of the botched robbery (due to the former not naming him), he reappears later in a sorry state. His addiction has caught up to him and he's seen with a black eye and having to walk with a cane.
- The Lancer: Eddie's main role is to be Bonehead's friend and contrast.
- Lead Drummer: Bonehead is the band's drummer, and the main protagonist. Eddie is the lead singer, but Bonehead gets the most focus in interviews.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Ian mentions he has a history with Gerry. Ian is played by Gerry Cannon.
- Lipstick-and-Load Montage: Tracy and Tania get one where they do their makeup and hair to look appropriately punk for the reunion gig.
- Missing Mom: Bonehead's mother died while he was in prison, and he gets a tearful scene at her grave after he's released. Especially sad since he couldn't even go to her funeral.
- Never Mess with Granny: Daisy, the elderly shopkeeper that Bonehead tries to rob in the beginning, is unfazed by him and cheerfully offers him a chance not to do it. But when he does, she calls a security guard on him equally as cheerfully.
- Nice Girl: Tracy is a kind, supportive person who is the first to meet Bonehead after he gets out, and later offers her house for him to stay when she learns he's been sleeping under a bridge.
- Nonconformist Dyed Hair: Eddie has badger hair to signal how he's not cut out for regular life.
- The Not-Love Interest: Tracy shows a lot of concern and affection for Bonehead the way a love interest would, and acts as his emotional support. They appear to be entirely platonic however, as Tracy snorts when Eddie suggests they might be getting together.
- Once More, with Clarity: The conversation between Tracy and Bonehead when they reunite is replayed again in the third act to deliver The Reveal.
- Pink Is for Sissies: Bonehead's incompetence in the opening is underlined when all he could get was a pink balaclava. He's told even by the woman he's robbing that it's not very intimidating.
- Putting the Band Back Together: Bonehead's raison d'etre. He wants to have one last reunion gig with them.
- Shirtless Scene: Bonehead gets one coming out of the shower, showing that tattoos cover his entire torso. Eddie is also shirtless when Gerry calls round at the house.
- Slobs Versus Snobs:
- Highlighted between Tania, who's a single mother with a North Dublin accent, and the school she has her son in, which seems to be posher and insists he transfer to a smaller one.
- Lizzy the posh woman from the label is attracted to Mickey, the north Dub who's never out of a tracksuit.
- Soul-Crushing Desk Job: Andy has a desk job selling cars, and has an annoying boss.
- Soul-Sucking Retail Job: Eddie's introduction is being fired from a corner shop after mouthing off to a Bratty Half-Pint. He admits to Tracy he hated working there.
- Tattooed Crook: Subverted. Although Bonehead was in prison for armed robbery, he stole only a handful of notes and was no real harm. He's got his act together completely by the time of release.
- True Companions: All of Crust are very close, and likewise are with their manager Gerry and their roadie Mickey.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We never get any word on whether Tania will let Terrence see their son, though possibly things look better for them after the gig.
- Women Are Delicate: Judge Shaw when sentencing Bonehead draws attention to how he robbed an elderly woman as especially reprehensible. The audience knows Bonehead was as much a threat to her as a butterfly is to a cat.
