An interesting and intriguing comedic pairing in Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell, The Other Guys has only been the third movie that I have seen in theaters [4th if you count my second viewing of Inception]. In The Other Guys, two mismatched New York City detectives seize an opportunity to step up like the city’s top cops whom they idolize — only things don’t quite go as planned [summary from imdb.com].
Right out of the gate, this movie got my attention, and got me laughing. No time for introductions, you are just thrown into the action. I love the way the movie starts, and how all of the characters are introduced. You instantly know what kind of people they are, and that allows for all the focus to be on the now, on what they are doing in the present, which is making some pretty damn good jokes.
The first thing I have to note about the cast and their jobs is the role Will Ferrell plays, and how well he played it. I think it’s safe to say that his career has been sub-par as of late, but I really like what I saw from him in this movie. It reminded me of his previous work, like Anchorman [also done by Adam McKay]. Mark Walhberg is good enough for the movie, I had no problems with him. I really liked Michael Keaton as the officers’ captain, I thought he was hilarious. His entire character, from his second job, to his son’s situation, is just plain funny. Rob Riggle played his usual role, which he kills in every movie, and I had to look up his partner, who was actually Damon Wayans Jr. I was thinking the whole time of how he reminded me of a Wayans brother, but younger. I had no idea he existed, but he looked promising to do roles like his father did. The supporting cast as a whole was awesome.
The movie was absolutely great until about the last 20 or 30 minutes, in which I thought the plot just seemed different. The comedy wasn’t as strong, and explosions and action came out of nowhere as the pace and overall feel of the movie changed, and for the worse. If this movie played out as the first have was going, I probably wouldn’t have a single problem for it. There are a few other minor things to note on the negative side, like the slightly overplayed relationship between Will Ferrell and Eva Mendes, which although great at first, gets dragged on a little bit too much. There were also a few scenes that I thought didn’t belong in the movie at all, but these things aren’t really bad enough to take away from the movie. I didn’t walk in expecting an award winner or thought provoking plots, I expected to be entertained and to laugh, and I did so a lot more than I thought.
Despite my initial thoughts of another over-hyped Will Ferrell comedy in which his character is just crazy and stupid all the time, we got a pretty damn good comedy.
My Rating [See it, Rent it, Skip it]
See it. Will Ferrell seems to be back and almost as good as ever. Worth the money and time, and will leave you with jokes to tell for a good while after you’ve left the theater.
Bob's Movie Reviews 