The Guard (15) DVD £17.99/Blu-ray £22.99

HEROES come in all shapes and sizes, and they don't come in a more unlikely shape than small-town Irish police sergeant Gerry Boyle.

Overweight, cantankerous, foul-mouthed and partial to a dalliance with the local prostitutes, he's a man you would expect to break the law rather than uphold it – which makes Gerry the perfect, unlikely hero for John Michael McDonagh's hilarious black comedy.

Gerry (Brendan Gleeson) is king of his windswept strip of the West Coast of Ireland and he's more interested in booze than solving crime. However, when newly arrived deputy Aidan McBride (Rory Keenan) goes missing Gerry starts asking difficult questions. Consequently, he is drawn into an international drugs ring controlled by Francis Sheehy (Liam Cunningham), Clive Cornell (Mark Strong) and Liam O'Leary (David Wilmot).

When FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) turns up unexpect- edly on Gerry's patch to crack the ring, the two cops from opposite sides of the world forge a fragile alliance in the name of justice.

The Guard mercilessly lampoons the conventions of buddy cop movies and has great fun laughing with and at Gerry as his unorthodox approach reaps surprising results.

Damon Smith