The Other Guys, from the same actor/director duo that brought us Step Brothers, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Adam McKay and Will Ferrell sure know how to get a laugh, taking the seemingly ordinary, flipping it on its head and surgically removing the funny. If they were doctors, they’d specialise in funnybonology and if they were plumbers… they’d crack you up or not even wear any pants at all!

They’ve done the same stunt with The Other Guys, a homage to the mismatched buddy action-comedies of the ’80s. This cop comedy ranges from dead serious to downright ridiculous… throwing Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg in a sensible cocaine-dusted pursuit vehicle together as partners. They’re an unlikely team, but boy do they work well together with Wahlberg playing the tough Brooklyn beat cop just out of the cooler and Ferrell taking the Stranger Than Fiction government auditor character into much sillier terrain as a desk-bound police accountant with a disrespect for hot women.

Catch the rest of the review and the trailer after the jump…

Allen Gamble (Ferrell) and Terry Hoitz (Wahlberg) idolise New York super cops, Highsmith (Jackson) and Danson (Johnson). Their real-life superheroes are an elite crime-fighting team with the street cred and records to prove it! When the mismatched pair of desk jockey detectives get an opportunity to step up like their heroes, things go horribly wrong as they get in way over their heads… WAY over.

The Other Guys is backed by a terrific cast. Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg soak up the limelight as the co-lead partners, but are simply the spit-and-polish on this police badge. Supporting character actors include: Michael Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Eva Mendes and Steve Coogan. It’s not a spoof, yet the over-the-top antics echo Loaded Weapon 1, where Samuel L. Jackson and Emilio Estevez ripped into the buddy cop genre with a special emphasis on Lethal Weapon.

Usually, these odd couple movies feature partners of mixed races for maximum comic effect… Pryor & Wilder, Gibson & Glover, Tucker & Chan… the list goes on. Ferrell and Wahlberg don’t even need drastic cultural differences as each character grates against the other with dry irritation, class differences and more of a brains versus brawn angle. Wahlberg’s great as the tough guy and straight man, while Ferrell winds things up again and again… precariously dangling the comedy over the edge and managing to bring it back down safely without sabotaging the suspended reality.

“Jail? No. Justin Bieber Weekend on VH1? YES, muhuahua…”

Adam McKay is quickly becoming the go-to guy when it comes to directing comedy and uses The Other Guys to demonstrate that he can deliver action satisfaction too. The car chase scenes are a few shades short of being worthy of a Die Hard sequel and there are enough stunts to call The Other Guys an action-comedy and not a comedy-actioner. Ferrell seems best when there are no restrictions on his performance and this is probably why he and McKay tend to consistently hit the funny mark, bone… thingy. Creative control gives Ferrell the ability to crank it up to 11 and this must have been the case with some of the OTT scenes, most notably the bad cop/bad cop rant as witnessed in the movie trailer.

If you’re a fan of Will Ferrell comedy, The Other Guys won’t disappoint. The plot is secondary… this one’s all about the heat of the moment and the silliness of it all. There are plenty of quotable quotes to be found in the dialogue with several references to TLC and peacocks. The Other Guys isn’t as classic as Anchorman, but there are enough solid comedy moments to make this one of their better movies. Ferrell is one of the only actors willing to completely embarrass himself for his audience’s sake and his commitment underwrites this notion to the point that the paparazzi are wasted on him.

There are one or two sluggish moments in the film, but thankfully this is one of those comedies that entertains with fresh laughs beyond the movie trailer. It’s the sort of film that will probably get a sequel and is also one of those movies you’ll be able to watch again and again… as long as you’re into Will Ferrell’s hysterical brand of humour of course! If the trailer doesn’t make you budge, plain and simple… you’re not human.

The bottom line: Silly.

Release Date: 23 September, 2010 (Yes, it’s showing already.)

Watch ‘The Other Guys’ Trailer

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