The Other Guys

Will Ferrell and director Adam McKay continue their fruitful partnership of serviceable and occasionally brilliant but often flawed comedies with The Other Guys, a send up of buddy cop movies (which are themselves already pretty silly in nature) with an odd sense of humor and an even odder political stance against the seedy nature of big money in America. The bad guys in the story are basically using fraud to cover up losses, and the entire end credits of the film feature animated information about things like how Ponzi schemes work and the average salaries of CEOs in comparison to regular workers over time. This is probably the wrong movie to throw an issue like this into, though I appreciate the effort.

The movie starts out bombastically with a ridiculous car chase through New York City as Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson attempt to stop some drug dealers. It's one of the most wonderfully absurd action scenes played for laughs I've seen, and it's a great start for the movie. I would watch a whole film about Johnson and Jackson as these superhero cop characters. But it's not about them, it's about the other guys, played by Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg. Ferrell plays a number cruncher and paperwork doer who'd rather stay in the office than chase bad guys, and Wahlberg was a promising young cop who had his career derailed after he shot a famous athlete. They're mostly the subject of ridicule, but they see an opportunity to make a big case after they arrest a businessman played by Steve Coogan and he is then kidnapped by armed thugs. People with money don't like Ferrell and Wahlberg sniffing around their affairs, and they are harassed at every turn by their fellow cops and other things working against them.

The structure of the story could have pretty much just been a regular buddy cop movie, but it's the specific weirdness of the situations and dialogue that make it a Will Ferrell comedy. The film just comes up with a ton of running gags and lets them ride, and some of them end up being pretty funny. Some of the better ones include all the horrible things that happen to the interior of Ferrell's Prius, his dark past, and Wahlberg's habit of studying fine arts so he can make fun of people who enjoy them. Some bits are weirder; Ferrell's innate attraction to beautiful women is cute but offset by what's basically an emotionally abusive marriage that's played for laughs.

Ferrell's mix of low key and very loud methods of being funny are in full effect and enjoyable as usual, and while I would say Wahlberg definitely isn't a natural comic actor (or a natural actor at all, really), his hit rate on one liners is generally pretty decent. Michael Keaton is great as the police captain, and his role is another I'd love to see revisited in a Rock/Jackson prequel. The movie is overstuffed to the point of bursting with recognizable comedic talent, and most of the cameos usually have at least one decent joke attached instead of just being their for their own sake. Ice-T's narration in particular is memorable. Not every joke is a success and I would have preferred a less self-serious plot, but it was a pretty fun movie.

Get Smart

Get Smart wasn't great, but it was enjoyable enough that I don't feel my New Years Eve was completely wasted. I like Steve Carell a lot, and he stars among a great cast of all kinds of people, from recognizable comedic faces to great classical actors. Unfortunately, most of them aren't used to their full potential. There are just too many jokes that fall flat for it to be a good comedy. At times, it really seems more like a spy movie with some goofy jokes than a comedy movie about spies, which I feel is more how it was advertised. I've never seen Mel Brooks' original series, so I have no idea how well it compares or how true it is to the show's spirit, so I'm not sure what exactly it was supposed to be, but judging by the reactions of others it's not really waht it should have been.

I actually sort of feel like it does the spy thing better than the humor thing, maybe understandable considering Peter Segal's record of directing mediocre comedies. But there are some fairly interesting missions and the climax is genuinely pretty exciting. Anne Hathaway is hot enough to be a real Bond girl, and matches up against Carell pretty well, although the romance seemed forced to me. Alan Arkin reunites with Carell after his questionable Oscar-winning performance in Little Miss Sunshine and plays an interesting take on the veteran chief character, and Dwayne Johnson should really be in more movies. There's really not much more to say about the movie - it was mostly okay with a few moments that were pretty great. Definitely less than I hoped for after the teaser trailer.

Reno 911!: Miami

I like Reno 911! well enough, though I never go out of my way to watch it. It's funny, but never that important to really follow it closely, so it's the kind of show you enjoy when it's on but maybe you don't care about it that much. I remember seeing a trailer for the movie, but it came and went without me even being aware it did. When I had the opportunity to check it out, I did.

The movie is chock full of entertaining cameos and funny guest stars. The Rock's one minute of screen time is classic, and Paul Rudd and Patton Oswalt are great in their roles. Reno 911! is one of the better current examples of retroscripting, where the plot is known but almost all the dialogue is improvised by the actors. It makes for a slightly different style of humor that comes off as a bit more natural, while still being funny most of the time. They make good use of the movie format. There are a lot of over-the-top deaths in the movie with blood spraying everywhere, and it adds to the absurdity immensely. There's also liberal cursing and sexual humor, especially a great scene where Deputy Jones is running in horror from the sight of his coworkers doing some inappropriate things.

They do actually attempt to do a story with twists and a climax, and for the most part it works out all right. It's all done with a bit of a smirk, and it works out to a very funny movie that anyone who likes the show or characters, or even just the form of comedy, should probably enjoy.