The Other Guys (2010) – Review

Where to watch The Other Guys

3 1/2 Stars

The new Will Ferrell action-comedy runs for 107 minutes. If only director Adam Mckay had trimmed this down to 90minutes, leaving out the excessive and uninteresting action finale. Even at its current length, this is the funnest comedy of summer 2010. Pudgy wimp Ferrell is the paper pushing desk jockey that craves order and civility, that shys away from danger and violence. Mark Wahlberg plays his fiery partner, Terry Hoitz, who’s restricted to a desk and paired with Ferrell as punishment for shooting New York Yankee Derek Jeter. Look for that scene to draw applause in Boston.

The Other Guys‘ is at it’s best when it lets Ferrell tear lose as the alter ego ‘Gator’, a sexual tyrannosaur that shows up from time to time. Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson are pitch perfect as the bad-boy cops Highsmith and Danson, look for an early gag that will either leave you in hysterics or disgusted. Unfortunately Wahlberg is lost in the shuffle. He isn’t a strong enough comedic presence to come across as natural, his mannerism seems forced and unconvincing. I like the guy, but I think his strengths as an actor don’t include comedy.

The only glaring problem with the picture is that is disintegrates into a standard and sub-par shoot ’em up. In return the film turns into exactly the type of movie it had been spoofing for the previous 90minutes. The action is too brutal and the villain is played far too serious for the material, much in the same vein as ‘Pinapple Express‘. It almost runs the good will the film had built up to that point,almost. However for much of it’s running time ‘The Other Guys‘ is the laugh out loud, fun movie that audiences have been waiting for all summer.

Director: Adam Mckay
Stars: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes,

Buy It On Amazon

Comments

  1. Congratulations on having one of the most sophisticated blogs Ive come across in some time! Its just incredible how a lot you can take away from a thing simply because of how visually beautiful it’s. Youve put together a terrific weblog space –great graphics, videos, layout. This is definitely a must-see blog!

  2. I consider myself somewhat of a movie buff so I really wanted to check your site out. Now, onto the film being reviewed… The Other Guys. I really, really … and let me emphasize REALLY thought it was bad. Don’t get me wrong, Will Ferrell was hilarious as usual and played a GREAT role (especially the ‘Gator’ scenes) but as you mentioned Wahlberg was lost in the shuffle. Ugh. He was downright unbearable to watch. His attempt at comedy made me want to repeatedly slam my head against my arm rest. Thankfully I refrained. But seriously, he must have uttered the phrase “SHUT UP!” to Ferrell about 20+ times throughout. I hated to hate Wahlberg in this. Sam Jackson and The Rock were just a little too over the top for me, They set a tone that I really couldn’t get with. I know the best way to view comedies is with a large group of friends, and maybe this was part of the reason why I really did not enjoy it. I saw it with one friend, and this particular friend is a bit of a milquetoast …. well, he’s just downright dull. Anyway i thought Get Him to the Greek blew The Other Guys out of the water by a mile. My dull buddy saw Greek without me and claimed he did not think it was very funny. So maybe its all that bastard’s fault that I didn’t like The Other Guys. I look forward to reading your other reviews s this was the first I checked out, I like the fact that you review older movies as well.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *