95% The Guard

All Critics (56) | Top Critics (19) | Fresh (53) | Rotten (3)

Rich with inspired musings on pop culture, literature, philosophy, race, sex.

This black comedy needed to be a whole lot blacker and funnier.

Brendan Gleeson, as beefily Irish an actor as anyone since Victor McLaglen, is always believable and frequently hilarious.

When it's over it evaporates, leaving only the acrid smoke of its dialogue and the memory of Gleeson reducing lesser mortals to cinders.

"The Guard" is a pleasure. I can't tell if it's really (bleeping) dumb or really (bleeping) smart, but it's pretty (bleeping) good.

A nifty little Irish summer vacation.

The film has visual and verbal flair, spry energy and deep wit. In a year of not-so-funny films and dull crime stories, keep an eye out for "The Guard."

Like an Irish version of "In the Heat of the Night," the profane and frequently hilarious "The Guard" watches the sparks fly as a smart African-American detective teams up with an unapologetically racist County Galway policeman.

Wickedly funny and irreverent. The best dark comedy since In Bruges. It will leave you in stitches.

It belongs to Gleeson, whose thickly accented growl lends a lyrical quality to McDonagh's wordplay in one of the year's funniest and most spirited offerings.

Patrolling the dark/light divide so confidently even the IRA nab legitimate laughs, The Guard is a cracker of a film and Sergeant Gerry Boyle a comedy creation for the ages.

... screenplay combines the overall drama of finding the smugglers and stopping them with some very wry humor, mostly from Gleeson, with his irreverence toward any authority.

The film is entertaining, surprising and Gleeson is once again on top of his game. If only director McDonagh had made some room for Cheadle and Mark Strong to shine as well.

Irish noir 'Guard' is one to watch.

McDonagh's pithy dialogue sparkles like pixie dust. And yes, everything sounds better in brogue.

What could have been a clich?d oil-and-water buddy movie in a lesser writer's hands feels organic and genuine.

Gleefully, hilariously profane and proud of it.

McDonagh's Connacht-set cop story would be too clever by half if not for Brendan Gleeson's canny performance.

McDonaugh's reflective script and darker tone separates it from the usual pacing of the standard cop film.

Joins a growing list of darkly witty contemporary Irish gangster movies...Gleeson never seems to run out of ways to surprise an audience.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_guard_2011/

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