Irish Dark Comedies Range From Good To Great

Once again, I have no one to blame for being slightly disappointed with The Guard other than myself.  I had set my expectations high since I so, so, so loved In Bruges, which was directed by Martin McDonough, the brother of The Guard’s director John Michael McDonough.

Both films are dark, dark comedies that star Brendan Gleeson, a fantastic Irish character actor.  In The Guard, Gleeson plays a small-town, unorthodox Irish cop who is forced to work with a straight-laced American FBI agent assigned to Ireland to help take down an international drug smuggling operation. 

So, with high hopes going into seeing The Guard, I have to say I felt let down.  The Guard is a good film but it is NOT In Bruges.  The Guard is not as strangely intense and the dialogue is not as cutting edge and snappy as Bruges.  But, mostly, The Guard does not offer a worthy counterpoint character for Gleeson’s cop to play off of.  Yes, there is Don Cheadle, who plays the fish-out-of-water FBI agent, but Cheadle’s character is just not thoroughly expanded enough to compete with Gleeson’s.  Bruges features two characters that seamlessly complement Gleeson’s hard-bitten, troubled soul… his equally troubled partner (played perfectly by Colin Ferrell) and the lunatic boss (Ralph Fiennes).  In The Guard, I assumed Cheadle would be a worthy adversary for Gleeson since I know, as an actor, Cheadle is up for the task…but he is simply never given the material. 

Why did I love In Bruges so much?  Because I was taken completely by surprise by this quirky, multi-layered film.  Bruges, Belgium was a city I hardly had ever heard of before the movie. And, based on the PLOT alone, it’s not a place I would really want to visit (nothing in this movie is what a city wants on their tourism brochures).

Bruges starts off with two hit men (Gleeson and Farrell) sightseeing in Bruges, waiting for their next assignment. We wish we were there with them tasting the beer and smelling the chocolates and sailing on the canals. Then, as the movie takes its turn toward the bloody and violent, we forget about the chocolate and canals and the beer.

We focus, rather, on how sorry we feel for all of these flawed, troubled and doomed characters. Sure, they are killers. But, in strange ways, I found myself pulling for them both, mostly attributed to how well we get to know them through the script.  They both play off of each other with spot-on timing and incredible wit.  Gleeson is the tough, world-wise mentor and Farrell is the brash, young newbie.  Neither is truly cut out for the work they are doing, and both the chemistry between the two and their constant battle between good and evil makes Gleeson and Farrell the most fleshed-out, well-written characters in years. 

So, see The Guard.  But, savor In Bruges. 

The Guard: 2011, 96 minutes, rated R, directed by John Michael McDonagh, starring Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Mark Strong and Fionnula Flanagan.  The Niles Library will own copies of this film once it is released on DVD. 

In Bruges, 2008, 107 minutes, rated R, directed by Martin McDonagh, starring Brendan Gleeson, Colin Ferrell, and Ralph Fiennes.  The Niles Library owns copies of this film on DVD.