Justin Markert

I first saw Mark Wahlberg play opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Basketball Diaries when I was in high school. At the time, I thought the movie was going to be fluff. All I knew Leo from was Titanic, so how could a movie starring the teen heartthrob of the year and Marky Mark chronicling drug addicted high school basketball players in inner-city New York be any good. More specifically how could they possibly do Jim Carroll’s life story any justice at all? The short answer is they did. The movie is very raw and very true to the autobiography of the same name.  Mark Wahlberg was easily the best part of the film. Since then I’ve always kept an eye on what he’s up to. John Singleton’s Four Brothers is embarrassingly one of my favorite movies and in The Departed, Wahlberg steals every scene he’s in. He was terrible in The Happening, but everyone was terrible in The Happening, and The Happening was terrible in every way shape and form, so for that I gave him a free pass. My conclusion is, Mark Wahlberg should stick to playing a badass, he’s great at it. Comedy? Not so much.

The Other Guys reunites Will Ferrell and Director Adam McCay who have a clear streak of success with Anchorman, Talladega Nights and Step Brothers. All  the huge explosive, buddy cop movies focus on the superstar partners of the police force, this film tells the story of The Other Guys. Will Ferrell plays Allen Gamble, an accountant on the force who is more than happy sitting at his desk researching building violations.  His partner is Terry Hoitz, played by Wahlberg, has been sidelined due to a pretty hilarious workplace mishap and has been assigned to be Allen’s partner. Terry hates that the office’s super cops, perfectly cast with Samuel L Jackson and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, get all the glory. He wants in on the action but his partner would rather praise them from the sidelines than get in the game. A series of events puts the heroes of the office out of commission and Terry decides that it’s finally their turn to shine.  From there, the other guys find themselves right smack dab in the middle of large-scale corporate scheme.

I’ve been trying to figure out where I come down on this movie for the past two days. For some reason there’s just a lot of relativity here.  I laughed a lot, but not nearly as much as a lot of the other people in the theater. Will Ferrell is always funnier with McKay at the helm, he knows how to write for Ferrell better than anyone, so this is better than a lot of Ferrell movies, but does that mean it’s good? And how does this rank against Anchorman, Talladega Nights and Step Brothers? For some reason this one is a real conundrum for me.

I think Wahlberg was wrong for this movie. I’ve made it clear how much I appreciate him as an actor, but I just don’t think it worked pairing him with Will Ferell. Maybe it would have been better if he would have played the straight guy through and through, like he did wonderfully in Date Night. I think that Will Ferrell has a certain delivery, the same delivery he’s had in every movie he’s made, which is fine, because it always makes us laugh. I think the error happens when other actors are given similar dialogue. There’s a scene in The Other Guys when Ferrell and Wahlberg are arguing back and forth about how they would kill each other if they were wild animals. The argument rabbit holes into specifics and they continue bickering about the authenticity of the premise etc. It’s classic Ferrell/McKay stuff, but when Wahlberg’s talking, I don’t buy it. When Wahlberg shouts phrases like “I’m a peacock. You gotta let me fly!” it just seems forced.  I had the same thought when watching Christina Applegate argue with Ferrell in Anchorman. John C. Reilly seems to be the only guy that can play that same character without it seeming contrived.

In an action-comedy, I could have used more action. The Other Guys just didn’t harness the absurdity of destruction and violence in this movie the way a movie like Pineapple Express did in its climax scene.

On the other hand, there are some seriously funny jokes in this movie. The way Ferrell treats his mean, awful, homely wife is hilarious. Michael Keaton as the police captain is spot on and will hopefully be the beginning of a comeback. The slow revelation of Ferrell’s checkered past is also pretty great. And I don’t think I’ll ever hear the phrase “Soup Kitchen” again without cracking a smile.

While the film’s plot involves corporate corruption, it’s not really the focus, however during the credits there’s an extremely detailed animated explanation of a Ponzi scheme. It also sheds light on the injustice of Madoff and the golden parachutes that were handed out to the high level executives. Stick around for that.

I think the key to enjoying this movie is to do something I couldn’t, don’t over think it. It really is funny. It’s definitely funnier than most broad slapstick comedies. If we’re talking relativity, I’ll take a McKay/Ferrell comedy over a spoof movie like the upcoming Vampires Suck or whatever teen sex comedy romp is coming next from National Lampoon any day of the week. Just sit back, relax, enjoy the ride and let the peacock fly.

 The Other Guys will be in theaters tomorrow, Friday, August 6, 2010.