Thursday, September 15, 2011
Page 115
The Movie Column
T
Tom Sims, Executive Director of the Cape May Film Festival, reviews "The Guard"
here is a rich history of great films and terrible flicks about unconventional, maybe overzealous, law enforcement officials. Start with The Keystone Kops, suffer through an onslaught of Police Academy movies as well as one too many Beverly Hills Cop attempts. And the fun doesn't stop there. More recent iterations of the copsfor-yucks patrol include Kevin James in Mall Cop and Seth Rogen in Observe and Report. Both movies are admittedly pretty bad (although I did drowsily sit through Mall Cop after renting it for a dollar from a grocery store Redbox – not so bad when you're really not that invested in it). Oh, and let's not forget the Reno 911! series – or maybe let's do forget – another illconceived, trashy spoof. The Guard is unlike any of those police farces, and is well worth the search as you're not going to find it in many local theaters. The film stars Brendon Gleeson, notorious character actor, as a police Sergeant Gerry Boyle in County Galway, Ireland. Gleeson was born to play this role, perfectly cast as a cop who is unorthodox to say the least. It's not beyond
Brendon Gleeson plays a fast and loose cop alongside Don Cheadle in The Guard Boyle's standards to pop or snort confiscated contraband now and then. Another wonderful actor, Don Cheadle, plays opposite Gleeson as FBI agent Wendell Everett trying to stop a smuggling ring making its way through the port of Boyle's town. Sure, Boyle is the garden variety loudmouth lout, not unlike the Peter Griffin
character in Family Guy. And yes, Everett is the uptight law enforcement type who would rather follow the book than listen to unconventional wisdom. Let's not do long, deep character studies here. Instead, enjoy Gleeson's brilliant execution as an oaf who does eventually show he has some standards and Cheadle who succeeds in fostering a reluctant rapport with the uncultured local. This film has a great number of high-end, low-brow comedic lines and moments – not that easy to pull off. The actors stay in character throughout, never once missing a beat. So this is a dark comedy that doesn't become juvenile or gory... sign me up! Bathroom humor was not spared during the film, but it was not gratuitous either. Kudos to screenwriter John Michael McDonagh, who won an award at the Berlin Film Festival for the screenplay. I’ll file The Guard in my "Buried Treasure" folder. Do you love a movie you think didn't get the acclaim or audience you think it deserved? Two free weekend passes to the upcoming Cape May Film Festival for the first person to email capemayfilm@hotmail.com with your favorite buried treasure selections!
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