The Guard – review

Ireland has developed a nice export line in eccentric crime comedies, but to make them work you generally need Colin Farrell or Brendan Gleeson – preferably both, as In Bruges showed. This one is by the brother of In Bruges director Martin McDonagh, and is almost as enjoyable, if less coherent. It has Gleeson on fine form as a unorthodox garda (special interests: class-A drugs, Russian literature, prostitutes, swimming, swearing) whose quiet corner of coastal Connemara becomes an international crime hotspot. Thus he is paired with urban FBI man Don Cheadle, who looks genuinely flummoxed by Gleeson's inappropriate outbursts. "I'm Irish. Racism is part of my culture," Gleeson protests. If signs point to a mismatched-buddy cop movie, well, that's sort of what you get, but nothing in this sly, wry little movie is quite what it appears. Even the racism turns out to be part of a larger take on Ireland's insularity, eroding identity and inexorable Americanisation – the latter of which adds a self-aware edge to the unlikely crime proceedings. Some of the comedy is mistimed, and there's a little too much thrown in, but Gleeson's amiably contrarian lead is the type of cop you'd happily watch on TV every week. He could certainly teach Lewis a thing or two.