Studio: Columbia Pictures

Directed By: Adam McKay

Written By: Chris Henchy, Adam McKay

Rated: PG-13

Genre: Comedy

Running Time: 1 hr. 47 min.

In Theaters: Sep 9

Starring: Will Ferrel, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes

The Other Guys represents something interesting to me, because for all intents and purposes, it’s a bad movie. However, with that said, I can’t bring myself to feel that way, or to review it as such.

I’m not talking in an “it’s so bad it’s good” kind of way either.

 The Other Guys has all the ingredients necessary to make a bad movie, yet somehow it manages to have been incredibly enjoyable to, and fondly remembered by me.

Allow me to elaborate. The Other Guys suffers from poor character development and a very forgettable story. However, it’s so funny and so entertaining, that you won’t care. At all. Sure you’ll notice, it’s impossible not to, but as I said before: You won’t care.

The central idea that The Other Guys build itself around, is that it’s a parody of those “mismatched cop duo” movies we saw a lot of in the 80s. Except everyone is batshit insane. And I mean everyone. There’s not a single sane person in the movie for the crazy ones to bounce off, and just like the rest of this movie, that wouldn’t usually work. But for whatever reason, it does here.

And I’m not just talking about a little weird. Will Ferrel’s character is a big ball of weird personality ticks, Mark Wahlberg appears to be a full-blown sociopath with an obsession with hero cop fantasies, and the entire plot of the movie is kicked off by Samuel L Jackson and Dwayne Johnson standing on a ledge, fist bumping, saying “aim for the bushes”, and jumping off a 12 story building to their deaths while in pursuit of jewel thieves. Even the other (equally insane) characters notice how little sense this makes, and it’s hilarious.

The rest of the movie revolves around Ferrel and Wahlberg unraveling the mystery of nobody gives a shit. Seriously, the plot is so irrelevant I’ve already forgotten it, and I saw the movie earlier today. That’s not to say it’s bad, it’s just that it isn’t really important in regards to the movie’s entertainment value. Really, the entire movie is just an excuse for not just Will Ferrel, but Mark Wahlberg, and all the other supporting characters to be funny. And my god, are they funny.

The best part of the film may come from the fact that Will Ferrel may not be the funniest character in the movie. If I had to give it to anyone, I’d have to give it to Wahlberg, his character keeping that overly serious face and no-nonsense disposition, despite acting like a complete fool, almost bringing me to tears many times throughout the movie. If nothing else, this movie is a perfect example of how to use Mark Wahlberg in a comedy.

Don’t come in expecting a smart parody of 80s cop action dramas however. The comedy in The Other Guys is based solely upon the the crazy antics of the various characters, and general chaotic randomness, not to mention the various hilariously unexplained plot devices. It’s not smart, it’s not thoughtful, it may not even be well done, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t funny, and sooner or later we’re going to have to realize that maybe that’s all a comedy has to be.

So, if you’re only interested in being entertained, you’re going to like this movie, I whole-heartedly recommend it to you. But if you’re interested in more than that, or this sort of comedy doesn’t grab you, then steer clear.

In the end, this is really just another great Adam McKay comedy, and it follows the same rules as his other films, Anchorman, Step Brothers, and Talladega Nights. And after all’s said and done, if you didn’t like those movies, and you don’t like Will Ferrel, you won’t like this. But if you’re like the rest of us, The Other Guys is well worth your time.

-Reviewed by Jack Kelleher