The Other Guys (2010)
Starring Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Dwayne Johnson, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton, Steve Coogan, Ray Stevenson, Rob Riggle, Damon Wayans, Jr., Michael Delane
Directed by Adam McKay
Expectations: None whatsoever. It’s a mainstream comedy, the bane of my existence.
Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell are buddy cops always playing second fiddle to better men. Ferrell is content in this role as a desk man, but Wahlberg has an intense desire to get out of the office and bust some perps like the big boys. Together they do all the arguing and bungling you’d expect from this type of film, but the comedy is actually funnier than it would appear at first glance, making The Other Guys a relatively okay film. Adam McKay’s direction leaves something to be desired, though, with the action sequences devolving into boring, derivative, handheld bullshit where nothing is clear. The film is also ridiculously overlong, needing a good twenty minutes cut out to keep the pace moving quickly and limit the time between quality jokes. I have to give them credit, though, a mainstream comedy winning me over, even incrementally, is something of an achievement.
The cameos by Samuel Jackson and The Rock were fantastic, and you’ll most likely find yourself saying, “Aim for the bushes!” before laughing to yourself for quite some time after watching The Other Guys. In a comedy the barometer of quality should be how much it made you laugh, and on that note, The Other Guys does pretty well. Mark Wahlberg is funnier than expected and Will Ferrell is more subdued than expected. This might sound like an odd role reversal, but the film seems to work because of it. I can only imagine the film being even more dull in its dull moments if they had gone with the more traditional roles for the two leads. The Other Guys is also something of an education on the recent financial meltdown for those that like to get their news from Will Ferrell movies. It doesn’t entirely work, but it is somewhat admirable to see a big budget movie try to address real issues in between dick jokes.
It would have been great to see a little more of Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson, they were hilarious. I liked The Other Guys. I mean it’s not perfect and certainly isn’t incredibly funny but it’s definitely effective in spurts. Loved the Lion and Tuna conversation!
I had a good time with this, and I really did laugh-out-loud many times! I just wish that the last 15 minutes weren’t so dull, and diving into weird satire. But other than that problem, I had a pretty good time with this one. Good Review!
“Mainstream Comedies” this era have been damn near insulting to the genre. Great idea, cool actors (Michael Keaton has still got it in SPADES! He stole the show for me.)… jerk off production. They got everything but the comedy part down. I hate Adam McKay. Will Ferrell still totally rules, but because he’s not a native movie producer he’s so dependent on movie producers that don’t match his ability. Ferrell remains to be too good for those who he works with.
Another thing… Look at that poster. It represents nothing. You wonder why it was even bothered to be produced in first place. Artificial figures because the actors couldn’t be bothered to offer a quality image; a pose that has no clue as to what it’s doing; rising ominous rain clouds as there neutral background… !?!?! Are they werewolf hunters?
Mckay is such a loser.
Hahahaha, agreed that poster is shit. I watched this because I heard an interview with McKay that intrigued me enough to check this out. It’s clear after seeing this that he has little talent as a director. I still love Will Ferrell too, but his movies are mostly garbage and it really is a shame that he doesn’t have talented people backing him up.
While I appreciated The Rock, Sam Jackson, and Michael Keaton’s roles, the film really felt flat to me. For instance, I initially liked the whole joke revolving around Ferrel’s “my-wife-is-an-annoying-stupid-oinker” only to have her turn out to be a doctor played by the gorgeous Eva Mendes. However, after the dinner scene and Wahlberg’s first reactions to the absurdity of the situation, it just became redundant. I also thought the whole “reveal” about Ferrel’s former life was played far too broad. I guess that’s the problem… even the the comedy is absurd, the characters shouldn’t know (case in point, AIRPLANE). Just my two cents, but great review nonetheless! 🙂
That redundancy factor is what makes almost every Will Ferrell movie intolerable to me. They just hammer home shitty jokes without much originality. I didn’t have too bad of a time with this one specifically, but I couldn’t imagine sitting through it again. I agree that when comedy is absurd the characters should be oblivious. That’s a lot of why I enjoy the Christopher Guest fake documentaries.
See… this is exactly what I’m talking about. That Ferrell still has the greatest movie comedy potential.
hahaha, that’s the first footage I’ve seen of that and it looks a lot better than I expected it to. It has potential.
I liked this quite a bit. If some time was edited out, that would be good…as usual. I don’t remember much of this one other than what has been said here, such as the very enjoyable cameos and the thing about the wife! I LOVED that!