Its difficult to pinpoint exactly when Will Ferrell's career took a Steve Martin-esquire nosedive. It seems to be somewhere between the needless remake of The Producers and the gag free Blades of Glory. In the early naughties he broke free of the 'Saturday Night Live' crew, starred in some feature films and became a genre unto himself (You seen that new Will Ferrell film?). During that time he gave us some quotable, laugh-at-loud performances, such as Ron Burgundy in Anchorman and Frank in Old School. However overkill is easily achieved by funny-men and Ferrell obviously didn't follow Jim Carey's career too closely. Fast forward a couple of years and we are being given diluted versions of the same characters, but this time he has a film out every second month, how could that possibly get annoying? After a string of not appalling, but also not amusing films (Semi-Pro, Land of the Lost) it seemed he had lost it completely. Luckily he's slowed down in recent years and in The Other Guys he has downplayed the wackiness somewhat. But, one more false move and he's Adam Sandler.
Highsmith and Danson (played by Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson) are the two most bad-ass cops in their precinct. They get the criminals, they get the girls, they may not always follow the rules but goddammit they get the job done. Idolising them from a distance are Allen Gamble and Terry Hoitz (played by Ferrel and Mark Wahlberg). Gamble is an accountant at heart and has no interest in police-work which poses any danger. Hoitz is hungry for action but has lost his bottle having shot an unarmed sports personality. When New York Citys finest duo get killed in the line of duty, Hoitz sees this as their opportunity to step up, do some real policing and fill Highsmith and Dansons place. Luckily the first case they take leads them to a multi-billion dollar fraud ring. It looks as though The Other Guys will finally be recognised.
Mark Wahlberg seems slightly confused throughout the whole film as to whether he's the straight man or grabbing for laughs too. He also seems to be genuinely frustrated with Ferrell (you can tell because Marky Mark is not the greatest actor). Whilst they both give us some giggles and the supporting cast know how to deliver a joke, its hard to do a lot with poor scripting. Michael Keaton delivers some of the funniest material in the film but sadly has very little on-screen time. The entire film had roughly ten to twelve jokes rehashed again and again. As we all know, jokes get funnier the second time round, so by the tenth time round it felt as if I was being hit with an hilarity stick and it was almost too much to take.
The Other guys is not a great comedy by any means, it delivers some giggles and for those in need of a Ferrell fix it will sate your appetite somewhat. For others, there's a scene about halfway through with Will Ferrell explaining why an FBI mug with 'Female Body Inspector' on it is funny. Wahlberg interrupts him and screams 'Shut up!'. I think it's an outtake.
Highsmith and Danson (played by Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson) are the two most bad-ass cops in their precinct. They get the criminals, they get the girls, they may not always follow the rules but goddammit they get the job done. Idolising them from a distance are Allen Gamble and Terry Hoitz (played by Ferrel and Mark Wahlberg). Gamble is an accountant at heart and has no interest in police-work which poses any danger. Hoitz is hungry for action but has lost his bottle having shot an unarmed sports personality. When New York Citys finest duo get killed in the line of duty, Hoitz sees this as their opportunity to step up, do some real policing and fill Highsmith and Dansons place. Luckily the first case they take leads them to a multi-billion dollar fraud ring. It looks as though The Other Guys will finally be recognised.
Mark Wahlberg seems slightly confused throughout the whole film as to whether he's the straight man or grabbing for laughs too. He also seems to be genuinely frustrated with Ferrell (you can tell because Marky Mark is not the greatest actor). Whilst they both give us some giggles and the supporting cast know how to deliver a joke, its hard to do a lot with poor scripting. Michael Keaton delivers some of the funniest material in the film but sadly has very little on-screen time. The entire film had roughly ten to twelve jokes rehashed again and again. As we all know, jokes get funnier the second time round, so by the tenth time round it felt as if I was being hit with an hilarity stick and it was almost too much to take.
The Other guys is not a great comedy by any means, it delivers some giggles and for those in need of a Ferrell fix it will sate your appetite somewhat. For others, there's a scene about halfway through with Will Ferrell explaining why an FBI mug with 'Female Body Inspector' on it is funny. Wahlberg interrupts him and screams 'Shut up!'. I think it's an outtake.