Sergeant Gerry Boyle is a small-town cop with a confrontational personality, a subversive sense of humour, a dying mother, a fondness for prostitutes, and absolutely no interest whatsoever in the international cocaine-smuggling ring that has brought FBI agent Wendell Everett to his door. However, despite the fact that Boyle seems more interested in mocking and undermining Everett than in actively working to solve the case, Boyle finds that circumstances keep pulling him back into the thick of it. First his tiresomely enthusiastic new partner disappears, then his favourite hooker attempts to blackmail him into turning a blind eye, and finally the drug-traffickers themselves try to buy him off as they have every other member of the local police force. These events unwittingly offend Boyle’s murky moral code. He realises that he needs to take matters into his own hands, and the only person he can trust is Everett. And so the scene is set for an explosive finale.
Directed by John Michael McDonagh
Actors
- : Sergent Gerry Boyle
- : FBI agent Wendell Everett
- : Liam O'Leary
- : Francis Sheehy-Skelfington
- : Eileen Boyle
- : Garda Aidan McBride
- : Clive Cornell
Film Crew
- : John Michael McDonagh
- : John Michael McDonagh
- : Flora Fernandez-Marengo
- : Element Pictures Distribution
- : Elizabeth Eves
- : Lee Magiday
- : Lenore Zerman
- : Paul Brett
- : Tim Smith
- : David Nash
- : Martin McDonagh
- : Ralph Kamp
- : Don Cheadle
- : Andrew Hegarty
- : Andrew Lowe
- : Ed Guiney
- : Donal O'Farrell
- : Chris Clark
- : John Paul Kelly
- : Calexico
- : Robert Flanagan
- : Tom Johnson
- : Chris Gill
- : Michelle Cuniffe
- : Niall Brady
- : Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh
- : Larry Smith
Technical Information
- Couleur
- English
Images
Videos
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Worth seeing for Gleeson's brilliant performance alone, this is a sharp, sardonic and at times hilarious Irish film.
Mike Sheridan, Entertainment.ie -
John Michael McDonagh's sensationally funny crime comedy gleefully revels in messing with, and even mocking, genre conventions.
Ben Walsh, The Independent -
...delivers cop/action requirements - shoot-outs, revenges, daring deeds - and chances are, we'll be quoting lines from this forever.
Kim Newman, Empire Magazine -
...a very diverting exercise in applied filth and creative absurdity. It’s nice to know that, if one McDonagh goes missing, we have a spare in reserve.
Donald Clarke, The Irish Times






One of the most interesting Irish films in years. Spectacular use of Spaghetti Western and Crime film tropes to encapsulate the transience of national identity and the effect of pop-culture on a national image. Darkly comedic and intellectual humor especially suited to the cinephile or culture lover. Great film, well worth a look.
While this is an amusing enough romp with the Gleeson character allowed to awkward and quirky, it is seriously undermined by credibility issues: (1)new recruit missing in squad car and nobody notices (2)two prostitutes arrive by train dressed in Garda uniforms and mini-skirts (3) Cheadle, as FBI officer, engaged in gun battle on foreign territory and liaising only with local sergeant.
Loved this!
My favourite Irish film of 2011. Incredible performance by Gleeson.