The Other Guys (2010)

After a summer full of stilted comedy duds, Adam McKays The Other Guys is a flawed but refreshing treat. Sure, the jokes end up repeating themselves, and the plot is needlessly convoluted, but Ferrell, Wahlberg and a lively supporting cast make the movie a witty, breezy good time with the laughs coming at a regular clip. By the time Eva Mendes is passionately serenading hubbie Ferrell with the tender ode Pimps Dont Cry youll either be all fed up, or well won over.Trussed up like a spoof of buddy cop films, The Other Guys is actually less about lampooning the conventions of the genre and more about incorporating them into an out-sized, zany ride with Ferrell and Wahlberg playing chaeuffer. The two leads develop characters who stand-out and up from the script and play wonderful havoc with our perceptions of them as performers. Of particular note is a surprisingly satisfying scene where Wahlbergs grumpy tough-guy performs a nimble, elegant ballet number that would make the Funky Bunch do a double take.

McKay, who often makes movies about arrogant, diluted man childrenRon Burgundy, Ricky Bobby, those wacky step-brotherstakes a different approach here, establishing Allen (Ferrell) and Terry (Wahlberg) as nearly invisible, ordinary guys who, while not geniuses, arent magnificent dopes either. He saves most of the absurdity for the rest of the supporting players, including Sam Jackson and Dwayne Johnson as Danson and Highsmith, hot-shot detectives that make Tango and Cash look modest and reserved. McKay knows how to work with his actors and they seem more than willing to play in the fields of the outlandish. When the film opens with a Tony-Scott style, hyper-edited action prologue narrated by Ice-T, Jackson and Johnson milk the macho swagger and devil-may-care superhero antics for all they are worth, delving into the moronic self-confidence that makes guys like this tick. A scene where they stage a death-defying leap from a high altitude may be the films best visual gag. Mendes, fearlessly diving into strange but clever territory as a foxy wife fawning over a verbally dismissive spouse, shines with sincere ardor and devotion. She and Ferrell have a nutty energy that makes their scenes, although awkwardly written, a joy to watch.

Wahlberg does some of his careers best work as one more hard-nosed detective, but this time hes got an arc that gives him room for some quirky inspiration. Terry is angry, fed-up, and frustrated, trying so hard to prove himself that his defensiveness comes off as volatility. While busting the hell out of the office equipment and arguing with Allen over whether or not a lion stranded at sea could defeat a school of intelligent tuna, Wahlberg gives Terry a quality both admirable and easily mocked; pluck.Ferrell is doing his usual schtick, but he modifies and refines it a bit here. For Allen, hes wearing a perfect suit of white-bread apathy layered over a grungy restlessness that the character cant shake. The back-story that explains how he accidentally became a college pimp and ended up in the E.R. with a poison ivy coated anus is also played out across Ferrells intense eyes and wolfish sneer, features that come out whenever his confidence is challenged.

My favorite member of the cast, and one of the reasons The Other Guys ends up as appealing as it does, is Michael Keaton. Its been many moons since Keaton has played front-runner in a winning comedy, but here, as police captain Gene Mauch, hes just as important as a supporting player. In work as varied as The Paper, Johnny Dangerously and even Multiplicity, Keaton exudes a wry, canny charm that seems two steps ahead of the film hes in. When McKay gives Mauch a second-job as a manager at Bed, Bath and Beyond and a penchant for incidentally quoting TLC lyrics, Keaton defines these details as natural and an obvious extensions of his characters make-up. While the rest of us wait for Keatons big return as a leading man, we have this performance to keep us company.

For some reason, comedies of late have had a hard time actually sustaining their momentum, particularly into the third act. The Other Guys is no different. It doesnt know how to bring all of its pieces together, and the jokes grow more disjointed and sporadic. Instead of building to the kind of surreal crescendo that ended Step Brothers, with John C. Reilly gleefully punching out a whole class of grade-schoolers, this one opts for a mostly mundane action conclusion. The credits are inspired, but by the time the movie ends, we are just about finished with it.Still, The Other Guys is a consistently funny and good-natured movie that manages to hit some great screwball notes while also delivering spur-of- the moment fight scenes with Wahlberg channeling Jason Bourne. It doesnt work the whole time, but it works enough that I have no reservations sincerely recommending McKays newest to anyone looking for a hearty summer belly-laugh.