Review of The Other Guys (2010) by Chris S — 26 Nov 2013

Rare is the comedy that avoids the typical raunchiness that earns many of the genre an R rating and still manages to make its audience laugh until the point at which it becomes an ab workout. The Other Guys turned out to be just that.

Starring Will Ferrel and Mark Wahlberg as buddy cops, the film opens with none other than Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson as super cops engaged in a battle with marijuana dealers. Both Johnson and Jackson play egomaniacs who could care less about civil justice and instead showboat their Starsky and Hutch style of crime fighting. The two make a delightful pair and were surprisingly funny despite going against their typical characters. However, if Other Guys has one major flaw, it's that it kills off the two far too quickly and robbed the audience of even more sidesplitting scenes.

When desk jockeys Wahlberg and Ferrel come in, it becomes clear that they share the same relationship as many other great duos. Ferrel is an idiot who turns out to actually be useful as often as he is harmful and Wahlberg is a talented fighter with a temper who's career as a real cop ended when he accidentally shot Derek Jeter. Despite not being the most original characters, Wahlberg and Ferrel make the most out of it and prove to be perfect foils of eachother, going down in history as one of the great partnerships.

With comical gunfight scenes and unexpected character traits found in both Mark and Will, (including a hilarious back story of Ferrel being a pimp) and an awesome supporting cast (most notably Eva Mendes as Ferrel's smoking hot wife Shela), Other Guys proves to be laugh riot with heart, and succeeds where movies such as Cop Out and Starsky and Hutch failed.