The Guard: comedy movie of the year

Once-upon-a-time — well, 2006 anyway — I spotted Irish actor Brendan Gleeson wandering the streets of Venice. No one blinked an eye at him, but I knew him from The Snapper and Braveheart and Michael Collins and The General and a whole host of other movies. After his star turn in The Guard — which we saw at The Electric cinema in Notting Hill last weekend — I doubt he'll have the freedom to move around Venice without being mobbed by fans, or someone wanting to have a go at him for being a racist cop!