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The Guard Review

The ‘odd couple’dynamic has been a staple in Hollywood since, well, The Odd Couple. Straight-laced characters mingling with the scruffy, unkempt, and untidy has been a constant source of humor for films. When done poorly, the audience is treated to a series of clichés that completely kill a picture, but when executed well, like in The Guard, it can really work wonders.  

  Helmed by Irish director and writer John Michael McDonagh, The Guard spotlights Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson), a foul mouthed “unconventional” policeman in a small coastal Irish village. Gerry is unlike most cops you’ve ever seen: he has a taste for alcohol, drugs, and prostitutes and is generally uninterested by police work. Bad news for Gerry, because American FBI Agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) has landed in Gerry’s small town searching for a missing cargo ship smuggling $500,000,000 worth of cocaine. Uptight and strictly business, Wendell’s character is the polar opposite of Gerry’s. But, in the name of comedy, the two find themselves wrapped working together.

If this sounds like your typical buddy cop

movie, it isn’t. The show is entirely Gleeson’s. After being overshadowed by Colin Farrell in 2008’s In Bruges, Gleeson finally gets all of the limelight. Even though Gerry should be a completely unlikeable character, Gleeson brings a warmth and intelligence to the man that makes him less of a dick and more like a wisecracking Irish grandfather. Cheadle plays a good foil to Gleeson, but does not amount to anything more than that. In their scenes, Gleeson gets all the punch lines, and like most comedies from across the pond, they come quickly. In one scene, Gerry makes a few racist comments in a sweet sincere voice, like he didn’t know what he was doing, “I’m Irish, racism is apart of my culture,” all to the extreme displeasure of Wendell. But after a smile and a wink, we learn it is just Gerry being Gerry, giving him the business strictly because he can. “I don’t know if you’re the dumbest motherfucker alive or the smartest,” Wendell proclaims to Gerry, and Gerry just chuckles. The audience, as the film goes on, may be convinced that he is in fact the smartest.

Mark Strong (Kickass, Sherlock Holmes) pops up as, what else, a villain in a trio of baddies, but we’ve seen Strong play this part so many times that it looks like he is just phoning it in. The script also has its moments where it loses focus. After a brilliant, funny beginning, the film slows its pace and loses some of its humor in a muddling middle portion. The film picks up speed again at the end, but it isn’t enough to excuse the underperforming middle. But aside from that, the film packs plenty of laughs in its hour and a half runtime, almost all of which come from Gleeson. For fans of the UK’s special brand of humor, you’re in for a treat, but if you’ve never chuckled at a Monty Python flick, then maybe you shouldn’t reach out for this import. The on location shooting provides plenty of great scenery and one can always appreciate when a director can find the beauty even in bleak, overcast settings.

If you’re looking for a standard, “appropriate” comedy, then take the advice of Gerry, “Fuck off to America with your fucking appropriate Barrack Obama,” and skip this film. But if you like your “fucks” delivered like “fooks” and you’re a fan of tour de force performances like Gleeson delivers here, then head to the Athena and catch The Guard, screening from October 7th through the 13th.