Irish police Sergeant Gerry Boyle may be "the last of the independents." But this boozy, bluff and blunt redhead sure is a hard man to love. He's a racist -- or at least is very comfortable coming off that way. For shock value, don't you know.
The only times Boyle is telling a tall tale are when he opens his mouth. And as he's telling them, he's not shy about unleashing a cascade of curses -- a symphony of F-bombs delivered in a rich Irish brogue. Pairing this swaggering, unfiltered liar (Brendan Gleeson) and veteran of the "Garda," the Irish state police, with an American drug-enforcement agent played by Don Cheadle is nothing short of brilliant.
This dark comedy was written and directed by the lesser known of the playwriting/screenwriting McDonaghs, John Michael, brother to Martin. It's an inspired "buddy cop" teaming of the Great Gleeson and the deadpan Cheadle.
Something's up in Boyle's sleepy corner of Ireland. A body has turned up. And a cache of guns. He's dismissive of his superiors, sarcastic of any big-crime theories. His petty corruption and laziness make us and everyone else underestimate him. When drugs come into the conversation and the American Agent Everett arrives, Boyle is still not about to get worked up.
"The Guard" soars along on a script, like those by the other McDonagh (Martin wrote and directed "In Bruges" and the Oscar-winning short "Six Shooter," both starring Gleeson), built out of verbal flourishes and Irish curses.
McDonagh has set this in a place that has become a cinematic cliche, of shamrocks and "Diddley aye" music and leprechaun accents. He's made a laugh-out-loud comedy as hard as "The French Connection," a modern spaghetti Western on the windswept wastes of Ireland.
And best of all, he's given a trio of the greatest character actors working today a playground to run riot in.
