The substance is pure pulp--crooked cops, greedy mobsters, seductive dames, shiny cars--but the style is delicately ironic.

WSJ: -

His performance is large-spirited comic acting: a pure specimen of Celtic soulfulness, the magical substance that everyone else in the movie has been trying to produce synthetically.

NEWYORKER: Hear My Song

The substance, while vital to all life, can, if inhaled in pure form by humans, cause dizziness, disorientation and even unconsciousness.

FORBES: Harvard Business School Mumbo Jumbo