So far I've been adhering pretty faithfully to my summer picks, except for "Dinner for Schmucks" because news on that one wasn't so good. And now, the next one on the list, "The Other Guys". Adam McKay, the director of "Anchorman", "Talladega Nights", and "Step Brothers" reunites with Will Ferrell once again and adds Mark Wahlberg to the mix for a police action comedy. I had my doubts about this one all along considering Wahlberg has made some bad casting choices lately and the script material seemed ho-hum. Yet I still had hope that maybe Wahlberg would snap out of it and be like he was in "I Heart Huckabees" and Ferrell would be hilarious as usual and we'd have some great action on the side. It'd probably just end up trying to be like "Hot Fuzz", hilarious but really cool at the same time.
Except not. What we get are transitions from gag to comical gag, Wahlberg yelling a lot and Ferrell being silly as usual. I definitely laughed, but I wasn't on the verge of tears like in "Pineapple Express". The humor is funny at times and usually relies too heavily upon the audiences' familiarity with Ferrell as a "funny man".
Because he is a very talented comedy as well as an actor and generally doesn't fail to deliver some good laughs. But, he's not always at his best if the script doesn't back him up. There's a bit in the movie about how Ferrell's character Alan used to be a pimp in college with the nickname 'Gator' that's pretty funny, but other than that, it feels forced. The same goes for Wahlberg. His character is very limited as the 'angry' cop who just wants to do something badass. I think Wahlberg's comedian side is much more suited for a smart mouthed sarcastic like in "The Departed" or an eccentric, chattering worry wort like in "I Heart Huckabees". Wahlberg's Terry may have been the most forced part of the movie.
One thing McKay didn't force enough of was the action. Sure, there's the car chase in the beginning (meh), the homage to John Woo at the end in slow motion (eh), and it moves the plot forward, but not much else. I went in thinking McKay would go for a "Hot Fuzz" type of action comedy (without most of the ridiculous violence) and was actually disappointed to find he didn't. Even if this meant being an obvious copy of "Hot Fuzz"'s style, it would've made things much more interesting. Because on its own and without more action, the humor can't support a movie that, by the end, feels lazy and fairly boring.
I had high hopes when I thought maybe, just maybe, McKay would return to the hilarity that was "Anchorman" and the more goofball characters and hilarious script it had. Some people like the idea of comedies like these having more emphasis on the plot and not letting things get too ridiculous like in "Anchorman", but I think the ridiculous is where Ferrell works best. As long as it doesn't feel forced that is. Since Wahlberg proved not to be the strong support in the humor like John C. Reilly in "Talladega Nights" and "Step Brothers", Ferrell was left on his own to keep things going. Sadly, I don't think he was given enough material to create something memorable like Ricky Bobby or Ron Burgundy.
In the end, "The Other Guys" tried too hard to develop a real plot this time and, unfortunately, left a lot of the comedy and action possibilities behind. But hey, the guy a few seats down from me appeared to be enjoying himself, laughing really loudly like an idiot. No offense if that's usually you in a movie theatre.
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