In The Guard FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) turns to Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) and says, “I can’t tell if you’re really motherf**king dumb, or really motherf**king smart.” The film smartly teeters on the line between the two.
Agent Everett and Sergeant Boyle meet up in rural Ireland where Everett is chasing an international team of drug smugglers with the help of Boyle — who is cracking wise in a life that is as rough as the patch of land that he patrols.
Boyle is a cop-on-the-edge — the softer side of Dirty Harry and John McClane. He flagrantly violates all the rules in the book with a cynicism and matter-of-factness that is rather amusing. It is a credit to Brendan Gleeson that he never stoops to the buffoonery that is common in cop comedies. His performance feels like an old-timer ranting at a diner about the price of a cup of coffee. Curmudgeonly, deluded, raspy, but spot on.
Everett is a straight-laced play-it-by-the-books FBI agent. Cheadle is excellent at playing the foil to Gleeson. He is as measured as Gleeson is erratic. The two play in a harmony that makes the film vibrant and fun to watch. Part of the success is that both Gleeson and Cheadle react to one another in a manner that is believable and refrains from over exaggeration.
Some of the greatest success in the film is when Boyle and Everett underestimate one another. Either playing into stereotypes or playing off of them. The moments are refreshing and insightful. The plays on race and culture are handled with care in a manner than makes the off-colored comments approachable and not off-putting.
The film embraces the cultural differences between the Irish and the Americans, rural and urban, international and local to great effect. The film is all about these contrasts.
The film also plays up the differences between American and Irish English. The puns and word play on the different nuances between the dialects is pretty solid. There is also a great set of sequences where the Irish, while understanding Everett’s English, only responds in Gaelic.
The film is written and directed by John Michael McDonagh. McDonagh’s prose is clever and the dialogue is certainly the star of the film. The mix of fast-moving one-liners and extended discussions about Russian novels and American jazz form a witty screenplay. McDonagh is also able to extenuate the script in his direction of Cheadle and Gleeson.
The Guard is a cheeky, fun romp. It is a film that allows each discordant note to play off of the other well. The end result is a witty little film.
PARSI VERDICT: A clever cop comedy filled with contrast and wit.