The Guard ***½

John Michael McDonagh wrote and directed this Dramedy. Watch Preview. Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Mark Strong, Liam Cunningham, Fionnuala Flanagan, David Wilmot, Rory Keenan, Pat Shortt, Katarina Cas. Rated R for pervasive language, some violence, drug material and sexual content. Running time is one hour and thirty-six minutes.

An unorthodox Irish policeman (Brendan Gleeson) joins forces with a straitlaced FBI agent (Don Cheadle) to take on an international drug-smuggling gang.

To say Gleeson's character is unorthodox is putting it mildly. In America, he would have been suspended in short order. But in Ireland and it's culture, it works. The rating's "pervasive language" should be taken literally as I don't think I've heard the 'F' word used so much, ever. However, after a while it gets to be funny since it's such an integral part of how the characters speak. What really makes this an excellent film is Gleeson's character's likeability. He has his flaws but underneath he's a good cop, a good son, and a likeable man. I probably wouldn't have seen this pic had it not been recommended to me but I'm really glad I did. I enjoyed it as much as anything I've seen all  summer.

Screen size and theatre  sound are unimportant to the enjoyability of this film. There are no additional scenes once the credits start, although I was hoping there would be (you'll just have to see it to understand why). Theatre/Times.