The Other Guys (Movie Review)

The Other Guys, like almost every good picture in which Will Ferrell has starred, is a vehicle for his comic genius. The plot is preposterous. There is adequate vulgarity to please teenage boys.

The jokes are broad, so broad that they are farcical, and several of them are running gags. The picture marks the first pairing of Ferrell with Mark Wahlberg. It is a happy combination.

The pair have the chemistry of classic comedy teams such as Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello, and Martin & Lewis. Ferrell and Wahlberg are NYPD detectives Allen Gamble and Terry Hoitz. They are an unlikely pair, even for a buddy-pic comedy.

Gamble is a forensic accountant. Hoitz is best known as the cop who shot Derek Jeter by mistake and cost New York a World Series. The punchline asks why he could not have shot A-Rod instead.

Hoitz is a macho sparkplug, full of anger and embarrassed to be partnered with Gamble, whose chipper attitude annoys him. Michael Keaton is the precinct captain. He works nights as a manager at Bed Bath and Beyond to pay his son’s tuition at NYU.

SNL Sketch on Steroids

They are the buffoons of the precinct, dumped on by the other cops. They are the titular characters to the department stars. The picture has roots in sketch comedy, and it shows.

Ferrell and helmer Adam McKay are veterans of Saturday Night Live. The plot strings together the sketches. The narration by Ice-T borrows heavily from the Law & Order franchise.

The premise is simple. Hoitz itches to redeem himself by cracking a big case. Gamble would rather do paperwork and track down permit violations.

The pair are overshadowed by New York’s hero cops, Highsmith and Danson. Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson play these roles as parodies of their previous action work. Highsmith and Danson are like Starsky and Hutch on steroids.

In the first two reels they wreck two 1971 Chevelle SS muscle cars. The swaggering pair are removed from the plot by a bizarre suicide. They jump off a 20-story building while chasing bad guys.

Hoitz determines to replace them. Gamble stumbles on missing scaffolding permits which he ties to David Ershon, played by Steve Coogan. He unknowingly walks into a $32 billion scam.

Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg: The Comedy Duo We Deserve

The scam involves a character played by Anne Heche and a deadly security man played by Ray Stevenson. The rest of the picture hinges on their ill-starred attempts to crack the case. This sets up running jokes, including references to The Little River Band.

A recurring gag involves Gamble’s odd irresistibility to women. The stunning Eva Mendes plays his loving wife, Dr. Sheila Gamble. Brooke Shields and Natalie Zea also appear in roles that highlight this trait.

One has to give McKay credit for keeping the film’s surreal 107 minutes on track. The picture benefits from excellent stunts and special effects. The editing by Brent White is as disciplined as Ferrell’s comedy.

Will Ferrell works at comedy the way Lucille Ball did. He succeeds. The PG-13 rating is largely due to vulgarity and a scene reminiscent of The In-Laws.

While the bad guys watch his house, Gamble uses his mother-in-law to relay steamy messages to his wife. That scene is so funny that one initially ignores its utter implausibility. The Other Guys is a laugh a minute.