95% The Guard

All Critics (79) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (75) | Rotten (4)

Crisp, acid-tongued and sharply acted, it's the sort of exercise in tangy Celtic cynicism that's become one of the Emerald Isle's most reliable imports.

There are few things finer in cinema than Brendan Gleeson's fat, happy face.

McDonagh's script is agile, darting between the ridiculous, the sage and the surprisingly sentimental. His love of language and the absurd has hints of the wisecracking Quentin Tarantino. But the story is decidedly more rooted in Ireland's loamy turf.

"The Guard" is not the most original buddy-cop movie you'll see, but it well may be one of the most entertaining.

"The Guard" himself may be no angel, but his movie is a wee slice of heaven.

Rich with inspired musings on pop culture, literature, philosophy, race, sex.

Gleeson is triumphant in this portrait of a complex man who is concurrently sensitive, boorish, brilliant, singular, and unforgettable.

Like bacon, Brendan Gleeson makes everything taste better.

The Guard, like its unconventional hero, is a true original.

Spiteful, ironic and human in turn, The Guard is an entertainment that makes most of the year's American comedies look impoverished, and in Gleeson it has a palpable star.

"The Guard" is violent, profane and funny.

The reasons it's worth seeing are Gleeson's impish performance and the sparkling dialogue, which marries Irish blarney to Tarantino-lite philiosophising.

There is something smug and roguish-by-rote about the usual Gleeson performance. Yet who else could play this protagonist?

The always-unbeatable Gleeson is on simply outstanding form, conjuring a character both dignified and ridiculous, heroic and hardly bothered.

Assured and well-written, it may totter uncertainly in the third act but it's a pleasure to listen to a script with such an ear for shocking insult and knowing offence.

Offering shades of Sidney Poitier's In The Heat of the Night, The Guard is a good character study with an above average script.

The funniest action comedy for a long time.

There aren't a whole lot of leading roles out there for guys that look like a 56-year-old version of me. So there should be no wonder why I like the guy and want to see him do well.

A hugely entertaining but frustratingly disorganised film, packed with priceless moments which never quite coalesce into a rewarding whole.

It may be well-worn territory, but thanks to the awards-worthy leading performance from Brendan Gleeson and a sharp, witty script, The Guard is a winner.

It's great to watch Brendan Gleeson have his fun at the expense of all the other characters.

Among the most purely entertaining films of the year, which cuts its laughter with a dose of Celtic melancholy.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_guard_2011/

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