FILM REVIEW: The Other Guys starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg

Sep 17 2010 by Catherine Jones, Liverpool Echo

FILM REVIEW: The Other Guys starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg

COMEDY actor Will Ferrell’s career has been a series of gigglesome highs – and (considering he earns a reported $20m fee per film) some groansome lows.

Thankfully, the Saturday Night Live stalwart rediscovers some of his lustre in The Other Guys.

Directed and co-written by Adam McKay, who previously made Ferrell vehicles Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby and the under-rated Anchorman – The Legend Of Ron Burgundy, this intentionally ludicrous buddy cop movie pairs Ferrell with an hilariously self-mocking Mark Wahlberg.

Explosive action sequences collide with polished one-liners and some amusing supporting performances.

They include Michael Keaton as the beleaguered police chief, who works a second job to pay for his son’s university education “so he can explore his bisexuality and become a DJ”.

Detectives PK Highsmith (Samuel L Jackson) and Christopher Danson (Dwayne Johnson) are the golden boys of the NYPD, monopolising newspaper headlines with their gung-ho antics.

When the two officers are sidelined, hot-headed Terry Hoitz (Wahlberg) and his mild-mannered partner Allen Gamble (Ferrell) – who until now have been relegated to filing paperwork for the precinct’s heroes – vie with rival detectives Fosse (Damon Wayans Jr) and Martin (Rob Riggle) to lead the team.

“I’m a peacock. You’ve got to let me fly!” Terry implores Captain Gene Mauch (Keaton), desperate to be included on a case involving multi-millionaire David Ershon (Steve Coogan, whose last Hollywood foray was in last year’s Night at the Museum 2).