The Other Guys

Those of you familiar with Saturday Night Live would have been enjoying Will Ferrell’s antics long before he became one of the funniest people on the big screen. His breakout performances in Old School and Zoolander soon lead to one of his greatest movies, and possibly one of the funniest movies ever made – Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. This movie was to become the first of many collaborations between the actor and director/screenwriter Adam McKay. The pair’s back catalogue includes Talladega Nights, Step Brothers and the recent action comedy The Other Guys.

Will Ferrell is undoubtedly a very funny man, however his brand of comedy divides the crowds and people tend to either love him, or hate him. Even his fans admit that for every brilliant film, there are one or two stinkers in his career. It really makes you wonder about the lack of good comedy scripts, or whatever money-draining habit Will Ferrell is feeding that makes him accept some truly awful films. His recent dip in form saw him make the likes of Land of the Lost and Semi-Pro, which made me wonder if he was ever going to get back to making genuinely funny movies. The good news is this movie is a step in the right direction.

The story is fairly simple and it follows unlikely police officer partners Allen and Terry as they are forced to work together to uncover a devious Wall Street scam. The NYPD loses two of their finest cops, (awesome cameos by The Rock and Samuel L. Jackson) and our heroes attempt to fill their shoes by becoming the hottest cops in town. Will Ferrell plays the dorky accountant Allen, a Pruis-driving desk jockey who’s happy to never have to leave the office and do any real police work. This is very much Ferrell’s comfort zone, mixing elements of Ron Burgundy and Ricky Bobby into this role, whch works very well for him. Mark Wahlberg shines as Terry, the disgruntled detectrive with severe anger management issues. Marky Mark is not generally recognized for his comedic efforts, but he deserves a lot of credit here as he’s the perfect partner for Will Ferrell, and the chemistry between the two is what really makes this movie work.

The supporting cast includes great performances from Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton and the brilliant Steve Coogan, who is finally getting some Hollywood recognition. The first hour of the film is definitely stronger than the rest, and it does run out of steam a little towards the end. However there are enough great jokes throughout the film to keep the audiences entertained, and it’s well worth the DVD rental.

Rating 3.5/5