The Other Guys review

Odd as it seems "The Other Guys" isn't an easy movie for me to write about. Probably because it's filled with loads of disjointed lunacy and allows it's strangely "smarter" (which is to say complicated) crime plot to play second or even third fiddle. Then again this is something that we've all come to expect from Will Ferrall and co-writer/director Adam McKay's pictures together. This is the pairs fourth film and surprisingly one I've enjoyed more than their last too.

I'll never forget seeing "Anchorman" in theaters (this was before it got huge and was over quoted and ran into the ground). I saw it on a whim to kill some time on the weekend and hadn't really been all that impressed with the trailers. Still word of mouth had been good and it was being pushed like crazy on television as well as every damn movie I had seen that summer had a trailer for it attached. So I watched it and absolutely went nuts for it. It was completely devoid of what most comedies have... you know... that narrow path of sense and senselessness. Well this was all senselessness, but creative. It would become the duo's style of storytelling and film making. Next they had "Talladegga Nights" which left me pretty damn disappointed. I know people LOVE the film to death, but it was too one sided for me. The first half is as great as comedy can be, while the second half is dull and fairly uninteresting. Regardless it blew up like a nuclear bomb and is I think their best success to date. Then they went R-rated with "Step Brothers". This one I had to sit on. I found many parts funny, but SO many parts completely and utterly stupid, almost to the point of it being too stupid. However I'll say the extended cut works a good deal better for me and while it's FAR from being a great comedy, it does work well enough.

Ok fucking history lesson over; now to "The Other Guys". I had a friend see it earlier yesterday and we discussed it before I went to watch it. For her it was much like my feelings on "Talladegga Nights". There were parts early on she really dug, but as it dragged on she seemed to lose interest. She's not wrong either, it is a bit lopsided. However why "The Other Guys" works for me is the little things. First off we all know that Will Ferrell is going to say something completely out of the blue, outlandish and fucking stupid that will make 8 out of 10 people in the audience laugh. That well sort of ran dry for me two movies ago. So instead of working quite like that, he dials it down a few notches. This allows for him to be funny in slightly more conventional ways, but also for different gags to play out. He does still make those comments and yes some are fucking stupid and unfunny, BUT there are a select few that really work.

Another reason is this cast. I love, love, love this cast far more than I thought I'd might. No one feels underused or overused. In general Mark Walhberg is a funny guy, here he gets to really show off. It's not all punchline humor, it's not all improv, or situational; it's like a bastard mix of them all. He plays the angry cop. The one who hates being partnered with Ferrell who never wants to leave his desk and hates being mocked for wanting to do the right thing. Michael Keaton plays their captain and effectively steals a few scenes from the other actors. There is a particular gag that runs throughout with him that I really enjoy. You'll see. Then you have Eva Mendas playing the perfect wife that gets neglected, Steve Coogan and Ray Stevenson as our 'villains', Ice-T narrating and of course a gloriously over the top series of action sequences with Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson as hero cops. The more I think about just their sequences the more I actually want to see it all again.

As an action film it's not unskilled either. DP Oliver Wood ("The Bourne Identity") knows clever ways of shooting action that doesn't make it amazing looking, but is cool and effective. I've noted several times that it seems harder for comedy directors to switch to action then it is the other way around. I guess I'm still waiting for that action comedy that looks like Michael Bay directed it, but sounds like Mel Brooks wrote it. Hey, I can dream. And yet with all this I can still see why "The Other Guys" just might not mesh with everybody.

It's not a film to convert non-Ferrell fans or people are aren't fans of their style. And yes the second half of the movie strays a little bit from the humor it had to slightly more physical humor and jokes at the expense of the action. That can make a movie feel really lopsided switching gears as quickly as they did. A good example is "The Condemned"... (you know the one with Steve Austin and the convicts on an island fighting to the death and it being broadcast on pay per view... ). The first half is a fun, hard knocking action picture that actually works well. Then the second half of the movie starts steering towards this anti-violence message drama to the media that culminates in a sequence that almost kills all the fun you had in the prior 80 minutes. "The Other Guys" switch isn't nearly that damning, but it can and probably will lose some people with it.

When it's all said and done I found it fun and funny and easily the most successful action, comedy to come out this year. I had a strange comparison last night to "The Other Guys" with Kevin Smith's pretty damn bad "Cop Out" from earlier this year. The films have a very similar tone and qusi-similar style and humor, but "The Other Guys" is basically what "Cop Out" would've been in any of their jokes worked. Although I hear being in the right... how shall I say it... 'mindset' while watching "Cop Out" makes it all work. I question that and think I'll stick with this one that already works on its own.