“I’m Irish. Racism is part of me culture.” So says the police officer of the title, Sgt. Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson). The Guard crashes right into stereotypes galore, racial and otherwise. To begin with, Sgt. Boyle is ignorant, he’s lazy, he only enforces laws when he feels like it, he breaks several himself, and he seems to enjoy offending everyone. The FBI? Trigger-happy Rambos. The Irish Republican Army…freedom fighters, right? Nope, Boyle calls them cowardly and incompetent – to their faces. And he’s always asking FBI agent Wendell Everett (played by the excellent Don Cheadle) if this or that racist stereotype is true.

The obvious question is why would we show, and why would anyone want to watch, a movie about such a character? First, The Guard is more than a sophomoric exercise in “I just said something bad, aren’t I funny?” Writer/director John Michael McDonagh set out to make us laugh…and undermine stereotypes in the process. All of the crazy statements that Boyle makes are proven wrong by the end of the movie. For example, Everett is not a “shoot first, ask questions later” type of cop, and not all the Irish are like Boyle. Per Gleeson, not even Boyle believes the nonsense he spouts. (Actually, there is one stereotype that stands…the IRA one.)

Second, some of the movie’s themes may seem lost in translation to us as Americans, but it presents an opportunity to get a sense of what’s going on in another country. For instance, there’s a lot of irony in someone like Gerry Boyle buying into stereotypes about African-Americans, because for hundreds of years, the Irish were considered a different and inferior race by many in Europe, and possibly still are by some. Also, for an Irish audience, the film’s humorous depiction of the conflict between “traditional” rural Irish and those Irish who are increasingly Americanized must have touched a nerve. Some in Dublin may have laughed at the ignorant “hick” Boyle and felt superior to the backwards rural Irish. But the Irish who love American cop shows like CSI are also targets of the jokes.

And this is where we find the true genius of the movie. McDonagh started with a pretty stale movie trope – two heroes hate each other but end up working together to get the bad guy — and added an homage to In the Heat of the Night with its African-American detective partnering up with its small-town racist sheriff. Then he layered on Irish class consciousness and ambivalence about Americanization and materialism. The result is a movie that speaks to the anxieties of 21st-century Irish, but also shows that the best way to overcome racism is to open one’s mind and get to know people who are different than yourself.

Third, while the movie makes you think, it’s also hilarious, and the acting, writing and direction are all excellent. Not for nothing were Gleeson and Cheadle both nominated for a slew of awards. In other words, it’s the perfect movie to watch the weekend before St. Patrick’s Day in Detroit. The Guard will be starting at 8:00p.m. at Ponyride, 1401 Vermont in Detroit’s Corktown. Tickets are $5.00. Popcorn and beverages will be available.