I am not sure what I missed with The Other Guys. Although I am a huge fan of Mark Wahlberg and mildly enjoy Will Farrell, I just did not see this film as being exceptional. A mediocre comedy that was a decent waste of an afternoon. Nothing more.
The Other Guys gives Hollywood an opportunity to poke fun of itself. Using a Revenge of the Nerds format, where the weak empower themselves and the powerful self-destruct, The Other Guys takes on the Police action genre. Creating caricatures that aren't far removed from the real "larger than life" police duo, The Other Guys introduce P.K. Highsmith (Samuel L. Jackson) and Christopher Danson (Dwayne Johnson) as New York's premiere crime-fighting duo. Their over-the-top antics are cheered by a populous unfazed by their appetite for destruction. In the meantime, the work-a-day detectives remain in the shadows looking for their opportunities to shine.
That is, all the other detectives with the exception of Allen Gamble (Will Farrell). Gamble (Aka Gator), seeks the quiet life of forensic accounting and completing police reports that guys like Highsmith and Danson are too important to concern themselves with. Gamble is saddled with a struggling partner named Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg) who strives to make a difference but seems to screw up everything he touches. He is known as the "Yankee Clipper" for accidentally shooting Derek Jeter (who appears in a cameo as himself). Gamble seeks the relative safety of the office while Hoitz seeks to make a name for himself. The pair fumble their way through a series of antics that allow them to stumble on success in spite of themselves.
The concept in The Others has some brilliance to it. Unfortunately, I found some of the humor to be less than my cup of tea. If you find random TLC music title references to be funny then your sense of humor might be Damaged. It was just Unpretty. Okay, maybe there may be some redemptive value there. But the references from Captain Mauch (Michael Keaton) seemed ill-timed and weird. There were also plenty of jokes surrounding sexual innuendo and the obligatory potty humor. In a nutshell, the humor was sophomoric and cheap. I like a good comedy...even the sophomoric type, but prefer humor that has some intelligence to it. This kind was unrefined and often just not funny.
The characters in The Other Guys were surprisingly well developed. In comedies, we are normally stuck with flat predictable characters. This film breaks from the pack by actually providing some back story to the characters and giving them some depth. That may be due to the nature of the film, which is designed to parody the genre. But I actually enjoyed the characters in spite of myself. The plot was pretty formulaic, but played out fairly well. The timing seemed good and there were parts that were genuinely funny.
Wahlberg and Farrell looked good together in this film. Farrell is significantly taller than Wahlberg, but Wahlberg has that edgy toughness that creates the opportunity for some credibility to the roles they are assigned. The pair seemed to play off each other well and appeared to actually enjoy working together. Keaton was sort of odd as a wishy-washy Captain that moonlights at Bed, Bath and Beyond. I like him as an actor but never really got into his character...maybe it was the TLC nonsense. Jackson and "The Rock" were great hamming up their tough guy roles in what nearly amounted to a cameo at the beginning of the film. The action sequence they participated in was well choreographed and the pair were fun to watch as cartoon versions of characters they have both actually played. Their portion of the film was fun to watch.
The Other Guys is a 107 minute comedy that received a PG-13 rating by the MPAA. The vulgar references and some violence appeared to be the primary triggers to that rating. The language wasn't coarse as much as it was thematically adult. There were plenty of sexual innuendos and outright sex talk as well as plenty of potty humor. I was surprised at the explicit nature of some of the lines considering the film does not have an overtly sexual theme. There is plenty of talk about vaginas, penises and sexual positions. So be aware if you are bringing someone close to the thirteen year old recommendation.
The Other Guys was not particularly bad. Although formulaic, it was an interesting spoof. The dialogue was rough around the edges, opting for cheap humor rather than getting creative. The acting was exceptional, the pacing good and the plot seemingly well thought out. However, the script short-cutted a good concept with cheap dialogue and predictability. Some of the humor fell way short of the mark for me. Overall, I did not feel like I wasted my afternoon on this film. 6.5/10.
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