Review of The Other Guys (2010) by Chads. — 06 Aug 2010

Just like Thelma and Louise, who drove their 1964 Ford convertible into the Grand Canyon, Highsmith(Samuel L. Jackson) and Danson(Dwayne Johnson), arguably, commit suicide, when the black half of the ambiguously gay duo says, "Aim for the bushes," before they plunge to their deaths from a high building.

It's an inside joke; they can't aim for the "bushes" anymore. It's Highsmith who says, "All the sex we don't want to have with women but we have to," at a press conference celebrating their latest heroics, in which the supercops had pursued drug dealers with a reckless abandon that could be deciphered as both men having serious death wishes.

Highsmith's comment has a double meaning; it hints at a secret. Homoeroticism, after all. is an open secret when "buddy movies" are concerned, but normally, such bromance innuendos are relegated to the subtext, a laughing matter.

The machismo of the "guys", however, in this case, seems so excessive, their virility turns into burlesque. Played for laughs, the pivotal moment in "The Other Guys", on one level, satirizes every action movie where the hero seems impervious to bodily harm, regardless of the circumstances, usually dangerous; but on another level, this second-tier narrative suddenly becomes intertwined with the filmic surface, the very instant when Highsmith and Danson meet their untimely demise.

The fall transforms itself into a lovers' leap and surpasses the film's parodic intent to lampoon the hyper-masculinity of men with guns. On the other hand, Allen(Will Ferrell), the wimp, the wuss, is ironically straight, even though he pushes paper and carries a wooden gun.

When his partner Terry(Mark Wahlberg) doubts his manhood, Allen pistol-whips him on the nose.