Film Reviews

The Other Guys

• Rating:
• Director: Adam McKay
• Starring: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Samuel L Jackson, Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton
• Details: US/TBC TBC

Marking the fourth collaboration between Will Ferrell and his Anchorman director Adam McKay, this hilarious comedy should go by the way of their previous efforts and find a cult following. These guys make movies that get funnier the more you watch them, and while The Other Guys isn't a patch on Anchorman, and doesn't have the quotability of Talladega Nights, it's still very often laugh out loud funny. Wahlberg in particular may have found his calling as an unlikely comedy star. The Happening doesn't count. Wahlberg and Ferrell are two mismatched detectives who have just begun working together in a tough New York precinct, dominated by Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L Jackson's super cops. But when they aren't around anymore, it's time for two more officers to step up and take the alpha status in the station. Looking to break a huge case that involves Steve Coogan's slimey capitalist, if they can send Coogan and his criminal investors to jail, they'll finally get the credit they deserve. Ill-equipped (Ferrell carries a wooden gun) and sometimes just incompetent, they set about serving up some justice the only way they know how - loudly and awkwardly. Bogged down with a lot more plot than their previous films together, Ferrell and McKay have reacted to the criticisms that were aimed at Step Brothers by structuring a lot more story around their, now customary, dim-witted leads. It can slow down the gag rate at points, but it also keeps things moving along and in turn makes the jokes feel fresher. Repetitiveness has been the downfall of many a comedy, but there are enough laughs in the script, even without the obligatory improvisation, to mark this more than a notch above similar Hollywood fare. Ferrell is never better than when working with McKay, and he's great playing the repressed family man, instead of a buffoon with illusions of grandeur. But Wahlberg steals the film from under his nose by stalwartly occupying every scene with a pensive aggression; it almost feels like a continuation from his character in The Departed. He gamely takes the piss out of his tough guy image at every available opportunity, and offers up some of the heartiest laughs in the process. The Other Guys is another successful comedy from the increasingly prolific McKay/Ferrell staple that will crack up fans, and thoroughly amuse the masses.

Review by Mike Sheridan