I recently saw the trailer for “The Guard” via Apple, and it looks like fun.  I tend to be drawn to movies that involve culture-clashes (as long as everyone is treated in a dignified fashion) and this one looks like a doozy.

One can imagine that Don Cheadle’s FBI character will find himself repelled by Brendan Gleeson’s gruff Irish policeman–shades of Felix Unger and Oscar Madison?–though in the end they will both overcome their mutual revulsion, and in the process learning lessons of tolerance and respect, and work together somehow.

It sounds like a typical ‘fish out of water’ story, which we have seen from writers like Neil Simon (The Odd Couple) to Walter Hill (48 Hrs) and perhaps hundreds of others between, though when they are done well, they’re a joy to behold.

And then there’s Don Cheadle, who we don’t see enough of on movie screens, followed closely by the Irish people, in general.

I met some Irish volunteers when in served in the Peace Corps in 1995, and have every since been enamored with Ireland and its people.  They not only had a female President–which is very progressive–but as a people had to undergo some terrific hardships, both in the past and today.

So they definitely get props in my book; though the famine in that country showed me that such events were not unique to African nations, which was an interesting fact and not something that is commonly much talked about in this country.