Title: The Other Guys
Director: Adam McKay
Writers: Chris Henchy, Adam McKay
Starring: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton
Released: 24th January 2011
Duration: 107 minutes
Detective Allen Gamble (Will Ferrell) has been transferred from forensic accounts to work with detective Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg). Gamble is a bit of a nerd who likes numbers and clever word-play than guns and catching crooks on the street. Hoitz is keen to get himself some of the action but he got stuck mostly with a desk job since he accidentally shot a baseball player at the World Series.
The hotshot cops in the precinct however are Detectives Danson (Dwayne Johnson) and Highsmith (Samuel L. Jackson). They are cops that get the job done but usually with a large amount of collateral damage. They are natural risk-takers and adrenaline junkies. During a pursuit they meet a grisly end when jump off the top of a rather large building when apparently ‘aiming for the bushes’. The joke being that they take crazy risks to get the job done and that there were in fact not even any bushes in sight when they made their crazy leap. Of course their untimely, tragic deaths were necessary, firstly because Johnson and Jackson were only cameo-ing in the film and secondly to make way for our real heroes. Step up Gamble and Hoitz.
So the pair start trying to act the part of real cops, Gamble isn’t very keen and Hoitz isn’t very bright but they start working on a case together. Gamble also has an inexplicably hot wife, played perfectly by Eva Mendes, who Hoitz basically, and unashamedly, wants to have sex with. It’s funnier in the film. I’m not doing it justice here.
The Other Guys is the funniest film I’ve seen in quite some time. I was laughing so much during the first 15 minutes or so that, even at this point in the film I was beginning to reckon that there was more laughs in this film already than in most comedies. In fact I laughed consistently throughout the entire film, and although the first 45 minutes is certainly the most rib-tickling, the film is strong throughout as a comedy… so much so that I’m looking forward to watching it again to see the bits that I missed due to laughing too hard on my first viewing. It really was that funny.
Adam McKay co-wrote the script with Chris Henchy as well as directing and they both did a good job. As mentioned, the script is very funny, and the directing is also good. The pacing is about right and the overall length is about right.
Mark Wahlberg really shows that he is a good comic actor (in fact I think he is better in comedies than in drama personally) and he really keeps up to speed with Ferrell who is great as always (it’s strange, I always think that Ferrell is actually better at drama – consider Stranger Than Fiction, an excellent film), but he’s clearly fantastic at comedy as well – Blades of Glory, Semi-Pro. Jackson and Johnson put in pitch-perfect performances as well, even if they are only brief appearances. The quality of the Blu-ray image is high, great colours and a sharp, clear transfer. The features are also bountiful, including an extended version of the film, deleted and extended scenes and plenty of other weird and wonderful featurettes.
The Other Guys is highly recommended.
