MOVIE REVIEW: THE OTHER GUYS

Director Adam McKay and Will Ferrell have had a lot of success together with Anchorman, Talladega Nights and Step Brothers, plus their website Funny or Die. They have teamed up once again to bring us the buddy cop film, The Other guys, this time bringing Mark Wahlberg along for the ride. The film has a big supporting cast, Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne Johnson, Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton and Steve Coogan all co-star. Allen Gamble, an easy going, laid back desk cop who doesn't like to get out and pursue criminals. Terry Hoitz (Wahlberg) is a cop desperately seeking action after an unfortunate run in with Derek Jeter made him the laughing stock of the police force. Once paired up, they decide to try and out do the two top cops they idolize, but end up getting into more than they can handle.

The beginning of the film stated off on a bad note for me. The very beginning starts out with a big action scene. Buddy cop films are hard to pull off because they have to have both action that is believable and comedy that lands it's jokes. With Adam McKay having no experience with anything remotely similar to action, it really hurt the action oriented parts like the start of the film. It wasn't executed very well and came off looking very unbelievable. However, once the film got rolling, the laughs started rolling along with it.

McKay and Ferrell films are notorious for their classic quotes and hilarious one liners. The film doesn't have as many as usual, but still has some great lines. Michael Keaton in particular has a very funny running joke in the film.

The co-stars in this film were all great. Like I said, Michael Keaton had a very funny running joke. It is good to see him back on the screen. Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson were both great in the very short role they played as the tough guy cops. I wish they would have extended their parts a little more. And Eva Mendes, who I am not normally fond of was actually pretty funny.

Will Ferrell needed this film to be a hit very badly. He has been losing a step lately with his same routine of comedy that has been worn out over the past few years. He hasn't really changed his act much. There is still the uncontrolled shouting and the funny, random one liners, but it works enough to get away with it. After his Land of the Lost disaster, I didn't know if he would be able to bounce back.

If your a fan of the McKay/Ferrell collaborations, you will love this one as well. The film is funny and it works, but I would consider it the weakest out of the four of their films. The poorly done action scenes and rough start hurt it a little, but it did a good job of digging itself out. I give it five out of ten.