Film

Plot overwhelms comedy in ‘The Other Guys’

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Yeah, we still can’t forget Wahlberg was Marky Mark and had a Funky Bunch…

The Details

Restrepo
Two and a half stars
Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Michael Keaton
Directed by Adam McKay
Rated PG-13
Beyond the Weekly
Restrepo
IMDb: Restrepo
Rotten Tomatoes: Restrepo

The recent mini-revival of the action-comedy has given us movies both terrible (Cop Out) and mediocre (Date Night). The Other Guys isn’t quite able to redeem the genre, although it delivers a number of laughs over its first 45 minutes. Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg have a nice dynamic as a pair of desk-jockey cops (one meek, the other angry) who take on a high-profile case that finds them completely out of their depth. Director Adam McKay (the man behind Ferrell vehicles Anchorman, Talladega Nights and Step Brothers) effectively balances car chases and explosions with nonsensical comedic riffs at first, but eventually the plot overwhelms the comedy, and the jokes become repetitive and stale. After the freewheeling mess of Step Brothers, it’s good to see McKay reining Ferrell in with a little structure, but The Other Guys doesn’t have enough comedic energy to sustain its nearly two-hour narrative.

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