…don’t just take our word for it. In 2011, the New York Times‘ Manohla Dargis wrote:

Popping with glorious, bright color and off-color jokes, “The Guard” is an Irish comedy and almost incidental thriller, though mostly it’s something of a bait and switch. The tasty bait (and reluctant buddies) are Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle, two of the best utility players in contemporary English-language cinema. Alone or together, they can be reason to see any movie. Even when they’ve been self-consciously set off against each other for maximum quirk, as they are here, these are performers who can dig a little deeper than their material…..
Mr. Cheadle, often dashingly dressed in black and jaunty hat, enters as an F.B.I agent, Wendell Everett (perhaps a nod to the American actor Wendell Pierce). Everett is looking to intercept a large drug shipment. He and Boyle meet cute tough-guy style, with Boyle voicing racist nonsense during a briefing. A straight arrow, Wendell responds with an arched brow and disbelieving laugh, but a friendship or at least a work team is born. This is followed by many drinks, villainy — including by a trifecta of baddies played by Mark Strong, Liam Cunningham and David Wilmot — a missing corpse and some incidental women who are somewhat livelier than the errant dead man. Mr. Gleeson’s rogue is a treat, however conceptually contrived, and Mr. Cheadle’s lightly played gravity is a pleasure.

Read the rest of the review here. We hope to see you on March 9 at 8 p.m.