"The Other Guys" Review

Will Ferrell and director Adam McKay have set a pretty high standard for comedies. They've succeeded in every project they've worked on together leading up to The Other Guys. Mark Wahlberg joins them, playing a tough-guy cop forced to a desk after he shoots Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees! Ferrell plays the bumbling idiot who loves sitting behind a desk all day. The comedy is in the two characters' differences, and craziness ensues. Let's get started.

What I liked about the movie:
Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg chemistry
Wahlberg delivers... for 2/3 of the movie. His tough-guy cop character (who secretly loves to dance) is hilarious. Sudden outbursts of anger with Ferrell on the receiving end were great.

Will Ferrell is playing, yet again, the absent minded moron. There are a lot of scenes where Ferrell is the awkward schmuck in the room; his fellow officers get him to shoot his gun off at his desk, making him believe its tradition. Funny stuff.

The Supporting Actors

I have to be honest, as funny as Ferrell and Wahlberg were, their supporting cast stole the show for me. Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson are by far the funniest aspect of the first 15 minutes of the film. Their satirical look at cops and the way they're portrayed in movies is terrific. They play on every stereotype, all the way to their demise.

Rob Riggle and Damon Wayans Jr. are their replacements and do great! There is a scene where Riggle's character fights Wahlberg's character during a funeral ceremony. They roll around on the ground fighting, while only whispering as to not disrespect the family of the fallen officer. This was so funny; I was laughing so hard during this scene.

Then there is the immortal Michael Keaton. Keaton plays the captain of the police force, but the force doesn't pay enough to send his bisexual son to college. So Keaton gets another job at Bed, Bath and Beyond to help pay for his son's school. Throughout the movie, Keaton's character uses the titles of TLC songs to explain what he's thinking. The funny thing is that Keaton doesn't know they're TLC songs! He was great.


What I didn't like about the movie:
The Story
The story is pathetic at best. I follow director Adam McKay's tweets on Twitter and he talks a lot about his political views. This is all fine and dandy, but don't make it the plot of your movie just because it's something that interests you. The plot is so dumb, so preposterous, it leaves no reason to care about the characters. It's all about corporate, white-collar crimes. That's great, because it's relevant, but it doesn't make for a good story for a comedy, especially when it reaches the pinnacle of stupidity. The state lotto is about to get taken for 32 billion dollars? Come on. The police department giving up it's entire pension to invest in a scam? Come on!

Characters
The sad thing is, it looks like this is a direct contradiction of the comments I wrote above, but it's not. I told you about Wahlberg being funny 2/3 of the movie. Well, the last 1/3 he was just straight-up annoying. There was no arc to his character, no growth of any kind. Same goes for Ferrell's character. He was a bumbling idiot to start the movie, and he was a bumbling idiot to end it. I was really disappointed in that.

Then there are characters that have absolutely no purpose of being in the film whatsoever. Take, for example, Wahlberg's ex-girlfriend. He visits her at her ballet class, yells at her and her dance partner and then leaves in a fit of rage. We don't see the ex-girlfriend again for the rest of the movie. What the hell is she in the movie for? Same goes for the "villains" of the movie. Anne Heche and Steve Coogan. Both unfunny and really only in the movie to have a villain at all.

Adam McKay/ Genre
I've seen actors and directors alike do this: try a genre for the first time, and it fails. It hurts me to say this, but McKay failed, big time. The action sequences are bad, the pacing was really bad, and the story was really really bad. McKay couldn't decide what genre it was: Comedy? Action? Corporate satire? Political satire? Law enforcement satire? What was it? Also, there were bits that should have never been in the movie, nor dragged out as long as they were. Case in point, the grandma crossing the street bit. You'll see.


The Other Guys wasn't good at all. I left the theater feeling let down more than anything. Maybe McKay and Ferrell's formula for success has already reached its maximum potential. Maybe this was a good movie, but they've set the bar so high, anything less is considered bad? Well, my opinion stands. The movie is bad, underachieves and loses itself amongst too many genres for its own good. It's OK, I have faith McKay and Farrell will bring the goods on their next project together. Hopefully that project is Step Brothers 2!

You know what's a good movie? (Part 4)

Let's recap.

Part 1: Forrest Gump

Connection: Tom Hanks

Part 2: Toy Story

Connection: Pixar

Part 3: The Incredibles

Connection: Superhero Films

Part 4: Batman (1989)

So FattMatt and I need to apologize for not keeping this thing alive, but today we deliver. Batman, 1989... 'nuff said! I spent most of the past few hours "researching" this film. And by research I mean watching hours and hours of special features footage about the film. There's a lot to talk about, so let's jump right in.

Before this movie, there was no place for superhero movies the way there is now. Technology was not what it is today, and there was no way to produce these movies in way that would satisfy fans. Before Batman, there was the Richard Donner film, Superman: The Movie. That film proved you could make a good MOVIE that was about a superhero; it wasn't necessarily a good SUPERHERO movie. Batman carried on that tradition.

Also in 1989, the film's director was a relative unknown... Tim Burton. He had some success with Beetle Juice, but it is important to note that Beetle Juice LATER become the cult classic it is now. To add more doubt to the minds of everyone involved was the budget, at the time, it was the most expensive film in the history of the industry. In 1988, while the film was being made, Tim Burton was only 30 years old! Holy mother of wow!

The most controversial move of all was the casting of Michael Keaton to play the Caped Crusader; a move FattMatt and I LOVE! See, no matter who was cast, fans were going to be disappointed. This was a new take on Batman, never before seen on film. A dark Batman required a dramatic actor, not so much an action hero.

And for every Superhero film, you need a super villain; how about one of the best villains in comic book history... The Joker. The Joker was an obvious move on the part of the filmmakers. The trick of course was to cast someone GOOD enough to carry the roll. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Jack Nicholson. Joker Jack; does it get any better than that? This version of the Joker was true to the source material, far different than the one depicted in the 1960's Adam West Batman TV Series. Nicholson played him with a charisma that made you love the bad guy, even though you didn't want to. Kudos to Mr. Nicholson, and I am a firm believer that NO ONE else could have pulled off Tim Burton's Joker better than Jack Nicholson.

Burton enlisted the help of Danny Elfman for the score.

Batman Theme Song sound bite Batman sound bites

Elfman's theme for Batman was so good, so popular, that the studio gave the score it's own soundtrack, apart from the soundtrack with songs by Prince inspired by the film. The movie went on to gross over 400 million dollars worldwide! The movie and soundtrack were huge successes. It made Tim Burton the must-have director of his generation; it paved the way for Batman: The Animated Series; it lead to three live-action sequels; it opened the flood gates of comic book movies that we all know and love today.
The movie won an Oscar for Design and Nicholson was nominated for a Golden Globe for best Supporting Actor. A pretty good day at the office, Mr. Burton, a pretty good day.