Short Round: The Guard (2011) ***/*****

If you enjoyed Brendan Gleeson’s innate charisma and natural chemistry with Colin Farrell in 2008’s In Bruges, then The Guard just might be the movie for you. Not only is this film made by the director of In Bruges’ older brother, it gives Gleeson even more of a chance to charm your pants off being a cheeky bastard. Here he plays an Irish policeman named Gerry Boyle who is kind of a prick, a little bit racist, and not above using his position of power to take some liberties. If he can find some money or drugs on a perp, chances are they’re going to end up in his pocket or in his blood stream. He’s not all bad though, turns out he’s got a great relationship with his mother. The story we get is one of international drug smugglers and F.B.I. agents infiltrating Boyle’s sleepy town and forcing him to do some real police work alongside a more prim and proper and considerably darker skinned American named Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle). Cheadle is solid in everything he does, and this film is no different. And he and Gleeson conjure up some great chemistry bouncing off of each other, but their shared scenes end up being too few and too far between. The drug smuggler plot never ends up going anywhere interesting, and what we’re left with is a pretty hollow cop movie that doesn’t manage to set itself apart due to a generic story. And while a lot of the curmudgeonly stuff that Boyle says is funny, generally the film never goes far enough into farce to work as a straight comedy. What you get is little more than an excuse for Gleeson to show off for the camera. While that works alright for a while, and while it might work better for people who are huge fans of the actor; it never added up to a complete film for me. It’s fine for an afternoon diversion, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it.