Directed by: Adam McKay
Starring: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Michael Keaton, Eva Mendes, Steve Coogan, Rob Riggle, Anne Heche, Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne Johnson
I walked out on The Other Guys when I saw it in theaters ten years ago. I've only walked out on one other movie in my life, 2005's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and to date I haven't revisited it. I chose to revisit The Other Guys, and I can say time has not altered my views on it. Since I was watching it on television instead of the theater, I made a promise to myself to sit through this slog until the end, which I did.
The Other Guys remains a comedy dead zone. Efforts are expended to produce laughs, but none occur, and there are talented people associated with this movie. Adam McKay went on to win an Oscar for his screenplay for 2015's The Big Short, as well as pick up nominations for Best Director for that movie and for 2018's Vice. Will Ferrell's and Mark Walhberg's respective filmographies have been a mixed bag, but in the right circumstances, both can deliver.
To refresh your memory, The Other Guys begins with the exploits of two hotshot, media celebrity cops (Johnson and Jackson) who have no qualms about destroying a city block (or Trump Tower) to apprehend a suspect carrying 1/4 of a pound of weed. The hotshot cops, feeling invincible, decide to make an ill-advised jump from the roof of a building and die. With the two super cops out of the picture, desk jockeys Terry Hoitz (Wahlberg) and Allen Gamble (Ferrell), seize an opportunity to make a name for themselves by investigating a possible embezzlement featuring a high-profile financier (Coogan). The mismatched partners do not get along at first, but per the formula, they wind up getting along and solving the case.
The Other Guys loves to recycle its gags as if you will find them funnier the third or fourth time you hear them. Such gags include the guys' captain Gene Mauch (Keaton) who unwittingly recites lines from TLC songs when giving orders. And if the name of Gene Mauch tingles in your subconscious, he is the Philadelphia Phillies manager whose team infamously blew the National League pennant in the final games of the 1964 season. There is another running gag about how Allen manages to attract hot women, including wife Sheila (Mendes), much to Terry's consternation. Allen was once a pimp in college, although he won't cop to it, and occasionally slips into this persona. Then, we have two other cops who bully Allen and as far I can recall, they don't receive any comeuppance.
Walhberg and Ferrell would team up again some time later in 2015's Daddy's Home and 2017's Daddy's Home 2, which are slight improvements over The Other Guys, and that is indeed faint praise. I reread my review from 2010 and found I wouldn't change too many words in it. I gave it half a star then and I give it one star this time around. I guess that means I liked it twice as much as before, but that may be even fainter praise than saying how the Daddy's Home movies are better than this one.
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