Laugh-a-minute comedy – The Other Guys

***

Two New York desk-jockey cops start packing heat in this outrageously funny action comedy. Mark Wahlberg plays a disgraced yet hotheaded beat cop, haunted by a high-profile screw-up, while Will Ferrell plays an officious pen-pusher with a hot, brainy wife (Eva Mendes) he undervalues. The pair is given menial work such as completing paperwork for the rock-stars of their department, a cocky and heroic cop team (Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson). Keen to shake off their “loser” lable, our mismatched and bumbling duo join forces in dogged pursuit of a Bernie Madoff-type investment scam artist (Steve Coogan) and try to gain the respect of their colleagues.

The Other Guys is co-written and directed by frequent Ferrell collaborator Adam McKay (Anchorman, Step Brothers), who once again gives his lead free reign for constant off-the-wall sequences of bizarre dialogue, such as when Ferrell’s character takes an insult too literally or fails to grasp the concept of “good cop/bad cop”. Wahlberg proves an excellent foil to Ferrell’s dry humor and the pair has enough chemistry to sustain the comedy throughout the grand scale action sequences, expensive explosions and car chase scenes. Ferrell’s multi-faceted character is so tightly wound, it’s fun to watch him unravel.

Irish-born Ray Stevenson plays an Aussie villain but his accent disappointingly makes a side-trip to South Africa on more than one occasion, while the soft-rock sounds of Little River Band feature in a hilarious running joke.

While mildly driven by the theme of corporate money juggling, McKay reserves his most savage blows for the end credits, listing a staggering roster of facts and statistics pertaining to recent US corporate fraud, government bailouts and flagrant thievery that will have your jaw dropping in disbelief.

With plenty of inventive and nutty bits of dialogue, action and character moments, The Other Guys genuinely is a hysterical, laugh-a-minute comedy.

Review by Pauline Adamek