Parents' Guide to The Guard

Cinema has a long tradition of making antiheroes out of badly behaved law enforcers who still manage to be good at their jobs. In The Guard, that very bad cop is Gerry Boyle -- played by Gleeson -- a drug-taking, regularly drinking Irish police sergeant who appears to want to do anything but police work. But as is often the way, he's great when he needs to be. When Cheadle's FBI agent briefs him on a drug smuggling gang, the classic comedy duo of maverick and straight guy plays out nicely, with good chemistry between the two. Flipping the street cop and well-to-do dynamic of Beverly Hills Cop on its head, Cheadle's uptight Yale graduate is suitably stuffy when plonked in the Irish countryside.

Less successful is the attempt to subvert the characters of the cocaine smugglers -- the philosophy reading gang that enjoy jazz just falls flat. Rather than an interesting spin, the movie produces irritating performances by the whole gang, led by Mark Strong and Liam Cunningham. Thankfully most of the time is spent with the police in pursuit. The movie's given an emotional edge, too, with the introduction of Gerry's dying mother, Eileen (Fionnula Flanagan). It's a nice touch that humanizes Gerry's character and keeps him from crossing over into caricature. In addition, a spaghetti-Western like soundtrack fits nicely over the action and also adds to that not-quite-real-life vibe that helps it get away with its off-color humor.