Adam McKay has been delivering some of the most clever comedies in recent years and the ingeniously funny The Other Guys is no exception. McKay and company walk a fine line and succeed in not making an absolute parody of the Buddy Cop genre.
McKay is one of the few directors out there who makes smart comedies. He’s never one to have a long line of throwaway jokes that don’t go anywhere. Most are continuous and clever; nothing is overly broad and very few jokes miss their mark. The best types of comedies are the ones you can endlessly quote and The Other Guys is exactly that.
Right from the introduction, the film pokes fun at all those cop movies where the duo ends up saving the day, but causes mass destruction in the process. So what about all the paperwork they’d have to do? It’s the office cops who take care of that for them — you know, “the other guys.” The funny thing is, on paper Allen Gamble (Will Ferrell) and Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg) are far more intriguing than Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson’s wonderfully machismo super-cops that save the day.
The funniest aspect about Allen and Terry: how mean-spirited they truly are. McKay has a knack for following around people with sprinkles of cruelness. While you don’t come away exactly “loving” Brennan and Dale in Step Brothers, you still marvel at how mean and fun they are. Allen and Terry aren’t on that level of insanity, but it’s refreshing to see a duo that generally seems to despise each other for most of the film’s running time. That they’re both extremely unaware of their cruel attitudes makes them even funnier.
Despite that, you like Allen and Terry. You oddly want them to succeed. And when they do, it’s even more rewarding that they don’t come out as the big winners. They couldn’t get the job done on their own. They’re still in need of saving and are still “the other guys.” Ferrell and Wahlberg play off each other splendidly and manage to stay grounded during even the most ridiculous circumstances. They feel like real people. While Ferrell obviously wins most of the laughs, Wahlberg holds his own and delivers.
It’s also fantastic to finally enjoy a Wahlberg performance after suffering through such misfires as The Lovely Bones, The Happening and Max Payne. He has the capability of being an excellent actor, but lately hasn’t been put in films that live up to or put his skills to use. Here, his talents are on display in a new light.
Similar to the Anchorman, this is a movie that grows on you. It’s a film that’ll be embraced like McKay’s other films — as it should be.