TMG Scale 7.5
Starring Will Ferrell, Michael Keaton, Mark Wahlberg, Samuel Jackson, Dwayne Johnson. Eva Mendes and more.
Comedies are tough business. Making people laugh is one of the most challenging talents on earth. TMG rarely finds a film comedy that draws hysterical laughter. The Other Guys is no exception. It was pretty amusing though and I did laugh out loud a few times. This was not The Hangover (2009), but it was fun for the duration. Most of that credit goes to Will Ferrell. Ferrell is without a doubt, smoking or drinking something the rest of us have never tried. His twisted and bizarre sense of humor is just head banging good. This was one of Ferrell’s best efforts since playing in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004). Ferrell is after all, “kind of a big deal.”
TMG normally raves about Mark, I only wear hoodies in movies, Walhberg. Unfortunately, he was terribly out of place in this film as a mismatched New York City detective with the outlandish Ferrell. Walhberg was great in a comedy like Date Night (2010) but there he played the straight guy. Walhberg is just too cool and tough to play a bumbling police detective, especially in the shadow of a comedic genius like Ferrell. It was great to see Michael Keaton in a well suited role as both police captain and in his side job selling bath mats as a Bed, Bath & Beyond store manager.
The story line is cocktail napkin material. Wahlberg is trying to make amends after a strikingly bad use of judgment at Yankee Stadium with Derek Jeter. He gets paired with the squad room reject Ferrell, and off you go. It’s a Will Ferrell comedy for crying (or laughing) out loud! There is no more plot than that. Silly situations, chases and crashes. But the writing is very original and like any good Saturday Night Live episode, it stretches your comedic tone levels. TMG missed much of the built in humor in this film’s constant references to songs by TLC—a band TMG is not ashamed to admit he has never heard of. I had to look them up. I am still very non plussed as to why the screenwriters focused on their songs so much. I checked and Billboard magazine ranked TLC as one of the greatest musical trios of all time. Yeah. Right. It just goes to show you the folks at Billboard may be smoking the same stuff that Ferrell does. ( Dino, Desi and Billy are probably in that same list.)
The Other Guys will certainly be a better Saturday night rental on DVD with your neighborhood homies and a few beers. TMG had a good time though and I never knock a good night at the movies.