Director: Adam McKay
Starring: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg & Steve Coogan
Whilst having a good cast and the potential for good laugh, The Other Guys is a surprisingly average comedy with the feeling that little effort was put into it.
After a string of comedies that were not critically and/or commercially well received including the adaptation of TV series Land of the Lost, Will Ferrell’s latest film reunites him with director Adam McKay who has been involved in Ferrell’s better received films Anchorman, Talladega Nights and Step Brothers. The Other Guys, a buddy comedy pairing Ferrell with Mark Wahlberg that pokes fun at the buddy cop genre should entertain, especially given the quality of the star’s previous work with McKay, but the film instead disappoints with many gags falling flat in their execution as though few involved were making the effort to make the film more entertaining with only Wahlberg standing out positively.
Detectives Gamble (Ferrell) and Hoitz (Wahlberg) are partners who don’t get along. Gamble is more concerned with pushing paperwork and doing accounting within the department whilst Hoitz is frustrated by seeing very little action after accidentally shooting baseball star Derek Jeter a year before. Detectives Danson (Dwayne Johnson) and Highsmith (Samuel L. Jackson), on the other hand, are supercops bringing in criminals and getting all the accolades and glory. When Danson and Highsmith go out in a blaze of glory, an opening appears for other detectives to fill their shoes. Hoitz is desperate too but Gamble wants to avoid too much action preferring instead to follow up licensing violations. However, when Gamble and Hoitz turn up to arrest a wealthy billionaire named Ershon (Coogan) for a scaffolding violation, they get caught up in a multi-billion dollar investment scam when those Ershon owes money to try to stop Gamble and Hoitz from arresting Ershon and upsetting the scam leading the unwitting pair into bigger action than they anticipated.
With Anchorman regarded highly and Talladega Nights and Step Brothers both being almost as entertaining, there was expectation that Ferrell and McKay’s latest effort would be a return to form for Ferrell after a series of films that were less well received. However, despite a strong cast, a few good moments and some lines that should work, The Other Guys is very disappointing. The film feels too long and many scenes and jokes feel stretched out or lack energy in either the performances of the cast or the direction of the scene. Where there was a distinct feeling of all involved having fun on and off set in previous films, here there is the odd sense that little effort was made. While some jokes and scenes feel predictable and uninspired, others feel like they should work but don’t. The liveliest scenes are reserved for the beginning where Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson appear as supercops, embodying clichés with glee. Most highlights afterwards lie with Wahlberg’s character and Gamble’s wife, played by Eva Mendes.
Will Ferrell puts in a restrained performance in The Other Guys as Allen Gamble and disappoints as a result. Even when it is revealed that his character has dark secrets he has repressed with them starting to surface in his actions, Ferrell’s performance feels too restrained and lacking conviction. Wahlberg however is much more entertaining, getting to demonstrate his comedic talents again after I Heart Huckabees, here playing Hoitz straight with conviction where he delivers lines like “I am a peacock” or displaying a talent for ballet without betraying his character’s own belief in their masculinity with often hilarious effect only occasionally undermined by the performances of those around Wahlberg. Michael Keaton offers dependable support as the detectives’ TLC-quoting Captain though he never gets to stand out and Steve Coogan is wasted on a one-dimensional role as a slimy investor though Eva Mendes is likeable as Gamble’s wife.
The Other Guys should have been a funny film, reuniting Ferrell with his Anchorman collaborator Adam McKay, however a seeming lack of effort from the star and director leaves many scenes and jokes falling flat when tighter editing and timing could have made them work and only Wahlberg giving a good effort reminding us that the he has a gift for comedy when he wants to use it. Overall though, the film is very disappointing.
Rating: 2/5
