Writer/director Adam McKay carries a unique and singular voice in the world of comedy. His films are improvisatory but not meandering and carry a sustained level of absurdity that is neither weird nor alienating. In short, McKay’s comedies are always highly anticipated by comedy nerds and non-nerds alike. With that said, however, it’s disappointing to report that “The Other Guys” is far from being his most successful film. That’s not to say the film is a failure, because it isn’t. It’s just that when compared to earlier works like “Anchorman” and “Step Brothers,” “The Other Guys” looks a little safe and conventional.
Starting off on a high note, “The Other Guys” opens with New York City detectives Highsmith (Samuel L. Jackson) and Danson (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), a pair of preening, alpha-douchebags who cause untold levels of damage in their pursuit to apprehend a pair of guys who are in possession of a quarter-pound of pot. Yet, in spite of their gleeful excessive force, Highsmith and Danson’s status as super-cops is admired and envied by everyone on the force.
However, when an awning-based atrocity claims the lives of Highsmith and Danson, Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg), a perpetually seething desk jockey, sees their absence as a way of reclaiming his faded glory. Along with his risk-averse partner (Will Ferrell), Terry plans on hitting the streets and tackling the sexier, more Jerry Bruckheimer-esque crimes. But instead of taking down drug traffickers or topless jewel thieves (or whatever), the duo get wrapped up in a case of white-collar crime. And although it may look like a boring, uninteresting offense, looks can be deceiving.
The buddy-cop movie is a concept that hasn’t been fresh or innovative since the late ’80s. Like the remake and the sequel, the buddy-cop subgenre is about as cynical as it is lazy. Yet, against all odds, for the first 40 minutes of “The Other Guys” McKay manages to do something interesting with the idea. For example, during the first half, the film is brimming with surreal digressions, such as Ferrell’s observation that a school of tuna fish could kill a lion, a visit with Ferrell’s intense ex-wife and her creepy current husband (“1,000 Cats’” Brett Gelman) and a solemn and dignified fistfight at a funeral. Granted, these little plot detours only manage to slow the movie down, but they also give us funny little moments, like the one where Ferrell over-explains the joke behind a novelty FBI mug. So, obviously the leisurely pace isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
What is a bad thing is the fact that the film eventually surrenders to the constraints of the buddy-cop formula and slowly becomes just another police procedural. Although “The Other Guys” never stops being a comedy, the unexpected craziness from the earlier portion of the film simply disappears and something far less interesting takes its place. Another bad thing is the Ponzi Scheme tutorial that plays over the closing credits like an overly slick Powerpoint presentation. It’s out of place and mildly condescending. Still, before that time, you get to see Michael Keaton unknowingly quoting TLC songs (“Don’t go chasing waterfalls, guys”) and Wahlberg noting how “feminine” Ferrell’s “piss sounds when it hits the urinal,” so it’s almost worth it.
In interviews, McKay has repeatedly emphasized that “The Other Guys” is not a parody, and outside of the opening sequence and a bit where Ferrell and Wahlberg are caught in the middle of an explosion, it isn’t. McKay’s reluctance to take the film in a satirical direction seems a little strange. After all, parody seems far more preferable than going through the motions yet again.
Rating: W W 1/2
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