The Other Guys

This movie was the fourth film that Will Ferrel worked with Adam McKay, the same guy who did movies like Anchorman, Talledaga Nights, and Step Brothers. Why wouldn't anybody who was a fan of those films want to go see this one?

Its going to be difficult reviewing this film because if you compare this movie and 21 Jump Street, there's a definite answer as to who does the better buddy cop comedy movie. 21 Jump Street just provided a better chemistry between the two main characters and in my opinion had a smarter script and was overall funnier.

That being the only comparison I make between the two, here is my review of The Other Guys

The Other Guys is centered on a pair of detectives, Terry Hoyt (played by Mark Wahlberg) and Allen Gamble (played by Will Ferrel)

This is an uneasy partnership as Hoyt was on his way to becoming a promising detective until he accidentally shot Derek Jeter (Believe me they ride this joke the entire movie). Since he was stuck with Gamble who was more of a forensic accountant and not interested in becoming the hot shot detectives that Hoyt wants to become. The two have become laughing stocks of the department and fail in comparison to the real hot shots.

The real action stars are played by Samuel Jackson and Dwayne Johnson. They are the detectives who get the best cases, get into the most fire fights, and have the most arrests.

But when these two face their untimely death, the question becomes who is going to be the top detectives and Mark Wahlberg really wants that to be him and Gamble.

On top of all of that, an investor named Steven Ershon (played by Steve Coogan) is devising a criminal plot with the promise to pay back the investors who have been jilted by him. The truth is, you don't really find out what he's going for until the very end and that's apart of how the movie becomes difficult and not as great as Adam McKay's past pictures.

The main problem with the movie is the fluidity of the plot. I hadn't seen this movie in quite a long time before I saw it on TV earlier this week. Now most movies that I like I can remember what the main conflict of the movie was. This one is a little bit more difficult to pull out.

Like I said before, the movie is mainly focused on Wahlberg and Ferrel. Now if the movie was just focused on their relationship and their attempts to become the top cops of the department, I think that would have made for a very good movie.

As you can tell, the two just don't look like the best team. Mark Wahlberg is that stereotypical tough as nails cop while Ferrel is more of an accountant.

And that provides some good humor as Gamble is actually not savy with the pranks and jokes being made on him. For example, some other cops tell him to do an desk pop.

Here's the clip for reference.

Will Ferrel makes a very comedic character... for the first hour or so of the movie.

And then they really try to push the joke that for some reason women find Allen Gamble very attractive. Why? There's really no explanation ever.

Was it funny the first time you see that Will Ferrel is married to Eva Mendez? Is it kind of funny when he starts calling her cute but not beautiful? Sure. But after a while the whole Allen attracts women, not being explained, no longer becomes funny.

Maybe you think its funny but for me it just got very old.

Its later figured out that Allen used to be a pimp in college. Does it really contribute to the story? Not really, its just a funny backstory. Does it develop the character? Not really. I'm not asking for intense character development here, I'm just asking for the reason Allen Gamble needed to be a pimp in college? Its sort of funny but in the end it really doesn't add to the story at all.

The same goes for Mark Wahlberg.

I like Mark Wahlberg as a comedic actor. Especially after I saw him in Pain & Gain and of course Ted, I think, given the right script, he can be really funny.

But with this script, he's really just bitching a lot. Why is he yelling I'm a Peacock! You Gotta Let me Fly!? I don't know. Its a funny out of the blue line. And those have their places in comedy movies. Sometimes you have to have those lines that don't make sense but they're more for shock value.

And some of those lines work in this film.

Every time I watch this film, this scene always makes me laugh. But this movie suffers from pulling out those sporatic funny moments too much. Because of this, the movie suffers.

A theme between the two main characters is that their personal problems are never really resolved. They don't develop as a better team, they don't become better cops. They're just awful all the way around.

All of that thrown into the mess of a plot with Steve Coogan and the film is just a mess.

Which is a bummer because I think Ferrel and Wahlberg are both a lot better than this movie.

The best critique I've heard of this movie is that it focused on the wrong guys. While the movie is called The Other Guys and not really focused on the hot shot cops that Jackson and Johnson portray, I think there is a lot of comedic opportunity if they were to make a spin off of Johnson and Jackson's characters in the movie. They gave me a lot of laughs in the film and I think that's a pair that needs to happen in some capacity. Whether its a spinoff of this movie or a totally different story.

If you read my Pain & Gain review, I am definitely getting on board with Dwayne Johnson a little more than I was before.

And Samuel Jackson... I mean its Sam Jackson what else can you expect but awesomeness.

I don't know, I'm pulling from an idea I heard from another critic and its an idea I really, really like.

It probably won't happen as most audiences were not really thrilled with The Other Guys, but I would definitely watch a spinoff with these two.

For me , this movie gives me a couple laughs and I have a special place for it, mainly because I'm a fan of Will Ferrel and Mark Wahlberg. But in comparsion with 21 Jump Street and other comedy movies that have come out before and after, the film is just not that great. It has a few quotable lines but its not even close to McKay's other films like Anchorman and Step Brothers.

But that's my opinion. Have you seen The Other Guys? What did you think? Comment and discuss below.

I'll leave you with this. I had a couple videos I wanted to put up but none of them worked. So instead here is a drum off between Will Ferrel and Chad Smith. Enjoy!