FILM

Ireland 2011 96 mins Dir: John Michael McDonagh Starring: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, Mark Strong, Fionnula Flanagan

Already a huge hit in Ireland, where it took £3m in six weeks, John Michael McDonagh's fish-out-of-water cop-buddy comedy has drawn much favourable comparison with his brother Martin's Oscar-nominated 'In Bruges'. The main connection is that both films showcase the talents of lovably crumpled, portly Brendan Gleeson. Here, his Sergeant Gerry Boyle is a Bad Garda in the Harvey Keitel/Nic Cage mould, but without all the tiresome Catholic guilt and self-loathing. He gulps down confiscated drugs, drinks on duty, and ships in a brace of whores from Dublin for nights of kinky sex until he's "drained of jism". Little wonder he's treated with barely concealed contempt by uptight, by-the-book FBI agent Wendell Everett (Cheadle), who's been dispatched to County Galway on the trail of a ruthless gang of international cocaine smugglers.

The film takes flight when Boyle and Everett are sparring, the former needling the Yank interloper with casual racism and responding with a wounded "I'm Irish, sir – it's part of my culture" when challenged. Much of the fun hinges on Boyle being smarter – and more honourable – than he chooses to let on, or as Everett puts it: "I can't tell whether you're a dumb motherfucker or a clever motherfucker." Trouble is that McDonagh's predictable plot is little more than a grab-bag of worn-out clichés and is frequently guilty of Trying Too Hard, notably with its gang of sub-Guy Ritchie philosophising smugglers and a little gobshite who's landed with mouthfuls of implausibly articulate dialogue. It even makes the mistake of coming over all smugly self-referential towards the end. See it for the splendid Gleeson/Cheadle double-act but don't go expecting another 'In Bruges' and you're unlikely to be disappointed. (Robin Askew)

Website www.sonyclassics.com/theguard/

Opens Fri 19 Aug

Copyright Robin Askew 2011