War on Everyone

After The Guard and Calvary, writer/director John Michael McDonagh makes the leap from Ireland to America with a slick, snappy and often laugh-out-loud black comedy that doubles down on the director's provocative brand of gallows humour. Terry Monroe (Alexander Skarsgård) and Bob Bolaño (Michael Peña) are two New Mexico cops whose disrespect for the law lands them in serious trouble with the boss (Paul Reiser) when a bloody racetrack heist happens right under their noses. Beginning as a broad and slightly wobbly bad cop/worse cop comedy - with car chases and bursts of blaring jazz-funk to bring back memories of '70s cop shows - things improve vastly when the alcoholic Terry stops becoming a joke and turns out to be a fully fleshed-out character. Although lightweight and silly with the best sight gag in recent memory, War On Everyone, for all its bile, strikes a surprisingly feel-good chord. Fun for all the delinquent, rainbow family.