Utterly Monkey (2006)

'MONKEY' BUSINESS Laird engages in some

In this deft debut by a guy best known for marrying Zadie Smith, two boyhood pals from Northern Ireland — a corporate slug and a drugged-up lug — reunite and clumsily try to return £49,000 in apparent dope money to its rightful, ruffian owners. Meanwhile, the duo passes the time applying the wisdom of The Golden Bough to getting laid and pondering the polemics of chicken omelets (''mixing the dead bird's flesh with the dead bird's — what?''). Imagine Office Space meets Layer Cake by way of Nick Hornby. Utterly Monkey (whose title derives from a raunchy incident during an alley shag) is a blithe, breezy read that nevertheless delivers biting insight into lad psychosis and the grim legacy of Irish nationalism. Nick Laird is certainly no slouch — but he wondrously understands the mindset.