In 2008, writer-director Martin McDonagh provided Brendan Gleason with one of the best roles and some of the best dialogue of his career as the weary hitman in the black comedy In Bruges. Three years later, McDonagh’s brother, John Michael, provided a repeat performance with a debut feature that shared many of the same characteristics.

Set in a small sleepy Galway coastal town, it’s another odd couple fish out of water black comedy ripe with understated humour, political incorrectness and a terrific laconic turn from Gleason as Sgt Gerry Boyle, an unconventional loud-mouthed cop with a subversive streak, dry sense of humour, a feisty dying mother (Fionnulla Flanagan), little time for his idjit superiors and a fondness for spending his days off with a couple of favourite prostitutes.

He’s first introduced out in the country, watching high as a kite teenagers speed past in their car. He doesn’t react. He just waits for the inevitable, walks over the wreckage, relieves one of the dead of his drugs and throws them to the wind. Save for a tab of acid that he pops on his own tongue.

Boyle likes to play by his rules, so he’s not best pleased to find his style being cramped by the arrival of, firstly, Aidan (Rory McBride), an over-enthusiastic new transferred partner from the big city, and, secondly, Wendell Everett (a marvelously mellow Don Cheadle), the Rhodes Scholar FBI agent arrived on the hunt for a gang of drug-traffickers rumoured to be in the area to take delivery of a shipment. One of whom has already wound up with a bullet in his head in the enigmatic murder Boyle’s investigating.

The first encounter between the mismatched duo, as Boyle playfully baits the American with racist jibes during a briefing, subtly sounding him out in the process, is a joy to watch. As Everett sagely notes later, he can’t make out whether Boyle’s incredibly dumb or incredibility smart.

McDonagh keeps things simmering nicely low key, but there’s nothing to dislike about this terrific film as the plot curls to take in Aiden’s disappearance after an ill-fated meeting with the gang, Boyle’s tender farewell gift to his mom, a cheeky urchin’s discover of an IRA arms cache and the subsequent return to its owners, and an attempt by the gang to buy him off as they have the rest of the local Garda before a final jetty-side shoot-out.

All  these elements are woven together in a seamless thread, each informing the other while ensuring rich characterization and back stories for even minor figures, such as Katarina Cas as Aiden’s  Eastern European wife. 

Along with the influence of classic Westerns (underlined by the soundtrack music).  McDonagh also registers a clear affection for Tarantino as the trio of traffickers, played with knowing self-awareness by Liam Cunningham, David Wilmot and Mark Strong,  debate the merits of Bertrand Russell or a straight-faced Strong bemoans the sort of low life they have to deal with in their chosen profession.

As plots go, it’s not overly ambitious and rather predictable, but it is economically and effectively spun out and the dialogue’s frequently hilarious with several post modern self-reflexive touches. Above all, though, it’s Gleeson’s brilliantly judged turn and the interplay with Cheadle that makes this such a treat. The ending leaves it open for the character to return, but I hope neither writer or star are tempted to risk spoiling the singular pleasure with a sequel that can’t possibly measure up.

Released on StudioCanal, the bonus extended and alternate  scenes don’t add much and the outtakes aren’t as funny as the film, but it’s well worth taking a look at The Second Death, McDonagh 2000 horror short starring Cunningham and featuring a pre-success cameo by Aiden Gillan.