ON THE SILVER SCREEN: DON'T OVERLOOK "THE OTHER GUYS"

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By Brian Lafferty

 

August 7, 2010 (San Diego)--The Other Guys works best when it focuses on Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg. I found their scenes droll because of the way the two played off each other. The Other Guys could have benefitted tremendously from a slight trim job and a comprehensible, less-than-convoluted plot but it in the end, it really doesn’t matter. The movie has enough laughs for me to recommend it, although it is not without its flaws.

 

The main issue I had with this movie was the filmmaker’s apparent need to include unnecessary characters and scenes. There’s the two rival cops played by Damon Wayans and Rob Riggle, who have the ability to make scenes intolerable because their arrogance is a major turnoff. Even if they were likeable and three-dimensional, they still wouldn’t be needed because there is nothing the writers could give them. There are already too many bad guys to begin with. Matters aren’t helped with the convoluted plot. It rarely makes sense and never comes together even when everything is revealed.

 

Then there’s a scene where Terry (Wahlberg) takes Allen (Ferrell) out for a night of heavy drinking. The way this is shot is distracting. It is told in still shots, with the camera “moving” from shot to shot. This style feels out of place compared to the rest of the “normal” look of the movie, not to mention the whole scene is pointless in the first place.

 

No buddy cop film can be complete without car chases and shootouts. If The Other Guys had fun with these scenes, such as lampooning the cliches of them, then perhaps I wouldn’t have had a problem with their inclusion. Most of chases and shootouts here are played with some gravity, leaving little room for humor because the timing is often undercut by the surrounding action. The only chase scene that is remotely funny in this movie comes towards the end, when Allen plays "Monday Monday" by The Mamas and The Papas, adding a lot of sweet irony to the events on screen.

 

Reading all that may sound like this is not a good movie.  On the contrary.  These flaws may sound glaring but they are surprisingly miniscule because they don't appear often enough to be too problematic.  If you can manage to get past the stuntwork, you’ll find more than a few laugh out loud moments. In one amusing running gag, Terry is amazed that very gorgeous women are attracted to Allen including his wife (Eva Mendes). In another, Captain Mauch (Michael Keaton) has a habit of unwittingly quoting TLC songs when giving advice (“Don’t go chasing waterfalls,” he warns Wahlberg and Ferrell when he tells them the case is bigger than they can handle).

 

Wahlberg’s first scene comes close to dangerously alienating the audience. He starts out playing his role angrily and dead serious. Fortunately, it doesn’t take long for him to mellow out. Ferrell is, as always, very funny and he provides most of the film’s laughs, including a scene where he fails to talk down a suicide jumper (“Look, he’s flying!”).

 

The Other Guys may have made some ill-advised choices but I was laughing. Even when I wasn’t, I still had a smile on my face. This film isn’t perfect but it is a very satisfying comedy.
 


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