2010 hasn't been a good year for movies. We've gotten a few gems (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Toy Story 3, etc.), but the majority of the films that have been released this year have ranged from poor to absolutely terrible. The constant barrage of terrible comedies has been even worse; I can't tell you how many times I've heard people talk about the latest star-driven comedy and then forget about it in the next month or so. It's irritating that terrible and forgettable comedies can make so much money while original and creative films, such as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, are left to virtually bomb at the box-office. I could spew a list of the worst offenders, but I'm not that angsty and I know that there are some good sleeper hits out there. The Hangover and Date Night, for instance, would be two great examples of a sleeper-hit comedy (or a comedy that's better than it's made out to be). The Other Guys, directed by the man who brought us Talladega Nights and Step Brothers, however, lies in-between the forgettable and the sleeper-hit. While it's not a *terrible* movie, The Other Guys is still a pretty lame and formulaic comedy.
The film follows two paper-pushers in the NYPD, Allen Gamble and Terry Hoitz, that have completely opposite personalities. Whereas Gamble's content and satisfied with his small work as an "other guy", Hoitz has bigger dreams of becoming a great 'action cop' like his superiors, Danson and Highsmith. However, due to an incident during the 2003 World Series, it's not likely that Hoitz will be getting any action anytime soon. Instead, the partners are constantly ridiculed and pranked by their co-workers and neither of their opinions are taken that seriously. Just when things seem hopeless for the duo, they stumble upon a mysterious conspiracy involving a prominent multi-billionaire and a variety of large-scale criminals. As nobody in the NYPD believes their story, it's up to the clumsy duo to take matters into their own hands.
It's an interesting take on the 'buddy-cop' genre, but the writing's just too poor to carry the subject matter. The humor, like in many of Ferrell's films, feels very forced. Nothing feels natural or clever - the film shoves its jokes down its audience's throats. "Get it? Peacocks can't really fly!" That was just embarrassing to watch. Not ALL of the jokes are bad, but most of them are either forgettable or just bland. It's like watching the class-clown play around with jokes until he finds something funny to work with. Maybe I'm just biased against Will Ferrell, but the humor in this film is very hit-and-miss and the misses happen quite frequently.
Don't even bother expecting characterization. The characters are just huge caricatures of the various roles of the 'buddy-cop' genre and only serve to crank out as many jokes as possible. They're shallow, bland, forgettable, and are completely overshadowed by the the actors that portray them. I'm not saying that comedies should put characterization at the top of their priorities, but films like The Big Lebowski and Duck Soup have proven that character-driven comedies can be quite great. Even the smaller roles in those films added to the overall quality (Donny in The Big Lebowski or Mrs. Teasdale in Duck Soup). Sadly, though, most comedies these days only seem concerned with making money and cranking out lowbrow humor for the masses.
Still, I suppose this isn't a *terrible* film. While most of the humor's either forced or bland, there are some humorous sequences or running jokes within the film. The running joke with TLC songs/lyrics, for instance, had me chuckling in amusement. There were a few other funny lines in the film as well, but none of them were uproariously hilarious. Just mildly amusing. Not only that, but the production values in the film look pretty nice. The cinematography looks slick, the costume design is decent, and some of the action sequences in the film look pretty tight. The shootout at the business meeting, for instance, looked really sharp on the big screen.
There isn't too much else to say about The Other Guys. It's got some funny moments in it, but it's still a subpar comedy with bland characters and forgettable jokes.
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