The Guard is a very weird movie. It's a cop comedy with a white cop and a black cop - but unexpectedly such a scenario plays out in Western Ireland, home to all sorts of gonzo hijinks and racist people who choose to not speak English. As the film opens, Sgt. Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) watches a car of drunk kids flip over on a road. He gets out of his cruiser, goes over to the crash scene, finds a bag of drugs, takes out a tab of acid and drops it. You see, Gerry has his own way of doing things. And it's gonzo.
There seems to be a big drug delivery that's going to come in to the port in the rural village where Gerry lives and works. To help with the arrangements to capture the dealers, the FBI sends agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheedle) to help out. Right away he's faced with all sorts of terrible stereotypes of black people from Gerry and other locals. He weathers it well, but it creates a contentious relationship between these two guys who are now working together. Ultimately Wendell returns the barbs to Gerry with stereotypes about Irish people (it's comedy, people!!).
Gerry's behavior is unconventional and goofy. He has an afternoon tryst with two hookers from Dublin (he brings them in on the train) rather than working on the case, he moves evidence from a crime scene for no good reason, he makes deals with the drug dealers he's supposed to be hunting.
Just when you think the film is a screwball cop flick, it gets sorta deep and serious. There's a story about Gerry's mother who is about to die; there's a story about rural Ireland versus urban Ireland; there's a buddy story about Gerry and Wendell. You can never really feel comfortable because it's both silly and serious.
It feels a bit like an Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg movie at times (Hot Fuzz in particular) and a bit like Henrik Ruben Genz's off-beat Danish cop western, Terribly Happy from last year (in large part due to the topography of the locations), but it's not really as good as either of those. Those films really know what they are and they do those things well (silly comedy;dark, atmospheric drama with comic elements). This seems to want to be all things at all times, but it ends up being neither fish nor fowl (cool metaphors, I know – you're welcome). It's not particularly interesting from a story/script point of view and has basically nothing artistic about it. It's a square peg jammed into a round hole and is not wonderful.
Stars: 2 of 4
There seems to be a big drug delivery that's going to come in to the port in the rural village where Gerry lives and works. To help with the arrangements to capture the dealers, the FBI sends agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheedle) to help out. Right away he's faced with all sorts of terrible stereotypes of black people from Gerry and other locals. He weathers it well, but it creates a contentious relationship between these two guys who are now working together. Ultimately Wendell returns the barbs to Gerry with stereotypes about Irish people (it's comedy, people!!).
Gerry's behavior is unconventional and goofy. He has an afternoon tryst with two hookers from Dublin (he brings them in on the train) rather than working on the case, he moves evidence from a crime scene for no good reason, he makes deals with the drug dealers he's supposed to be hunting.
Just when you think the film is a screwball cop flick, it gets sorta deep and serious. There's a story about Gerry's mother who is about to die; there's a story about rural Ireland versus urban Ireland; there's a buddy story about Gerry and Wendell. You can never really feel comfortable because it's both silly and serious.
It feels a bit like an Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg movie at times (Hot Fuzz in particular) and a bit like Henrik Ruben Genz's off-beat Danish cop western, Terribly Happy from last year (in large part due to the topography of the locations), but it's not really as good as either of those. Those films really know what they are and they do those things well (silly comedy;dark, atmospheric drama with comic elements). This seems to want to be all things at all times, but it ends up being neither fish nor fowl (cool metaphors, I know – you're welcome). It's not particularly interesting from a story/script point of view and has basically nothing artistic about it. It's a square peg jammed into a round hole and is not wonderful.
Stars: 2 of 4
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