I went to the first showing at the local theater of the Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg funfest, The Other Guys. In short, if you like Ferrell comedies, you’ll like this. I love cameos and there are lots here.
The Other Guys (Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Michael Keaton, Eva Mendes) – What an odd leading cast – crazy man Will Ferrell; punk-rocker-turned-tough-guy Mark Wahlberg; 1980s icon, Mr. Mom’s Michael Keaton; and this decade’s sex-bomb, Eva Mendes. Add to that a dozen cameos, including Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson, Steve Coogan and Anne Heche (uncredited), and you have a powerful cast that you might expect in a serious action film. To give Keaton credit, he did dramatic turns in films like Jackie Brown. But this film is far away from serious. It is almost a madcap cop comedy with Toody and Muldoon (Car 54 Where Are You?) in the form of Allen Gamble (Ferrell) and Terry Hoitz (Wahlberg). Gamble is a calm, laid-back, cop who never ventures out of the office and is perfectly contented to handle the mundane tasks like writing reports. Hoitz is the stereotypical opposite, the high-strung cop who wants action. But Hoitz is stuck with Gamble because he shot Yankees captain Derek Jeter while doing routine security duty (Jeter appears in a very short cameo, the longer version of which will appear on the DVD). When the superstars of the force (Jackson and Johnson) meet their demise in a funny scene, Hoitz sees an opening for them to become the stars of the force, particularly when Gamble stumbles on a potential financial scandal.
As usual in these types of films by Director Adam McKay, who has teamed with Ferrell in three movies and in his Saturday Night Live days, the plot is totally irrelevant. It is all about the gags, the one-liners, the impossible situations, the crass language, and the cheap laughs. No one plays this genre better than Ferrell. Wahlberg struggles a bit, I thought, but he is also the beneficiary of many of the best lines. And it is fun to see him playing comedy while presumably playing the tough-guy-turned-softie. Mendes is great eye candy in a throwaway role. And Keaton plays the “not-quite-there” police captain who moonlights at Bed, Bath & Beyond.
It is all quite stupid with several hearty laughs. The audience I was in enjoyed it more than I but that is often true of these “grunge” comedies. For most of you, this will be a rollicking time with Ferrell at his underplaying best and Wahlberg making his second leap (he just did Date Night) into comedy. Don’t expect him back any time soon.