The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Let it be known
that The Other Guys is the funniest
film to come out at the tail end of this summer cinema season. As we learn from the
trailer, there are two kinds of buddy cops. There are those who spend their
days on endless car chases, reducing entire blocks to rubble with gunfire, and then
there are the other guys: those that spend all their time behind a desk doing
unglamorous paperwork. As the title suggests, this film is more about the afore-mentioned
less dazzling fellows.

Earlier this year
we saw the release of Cop Out, a
funny take on the buddy cop genre that failed to live up to its potential. The Other Guys is more or less the same
film, only a lot funnier. The two buddies in this case are Gamble (Farrell), a senile
paper pusher, and Hoitz (Wahlberg),
a short-fused cop who is gradually losing his mind because he is stuck behind a
desk.

An almighty corporation
has lost a lot of money on Wall Street and they’re trying to cover up the losses
by forging the books. It’s up to Gamble and Hoitz to set the record straight.
The plot barley registers, but it’s enough to let some comedic situations play
out.

Much of the comedy
in The Other Guys comes from the
supporting actors. Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson play a pair
of badass cops who are never seen without their shades. Their few scenes are
some of the funniest in the film, while Michael Keaton generates some
laughs playing the police captain who moonlights at Bed, Bath & Beyond to
put his bisexual son through NYU.

Ferrell plays a restrained character, very unlike the loose
canons we usually see the former SNL actor playing. He continues to exercise
his uncanny ability to take normal dialogue and inject it with his personal
brand of humour, turning it on its head through his off-kilter style of delivery.
His goofball sensibility works best when he’s not the focus of the scene, which
luckily happens frequently as Ferrell’s character is over-powered by an angry
Wahlberg.  

Like all Mckay films, the other guys is chunk full of silly situations  (most
of which were improvised) and memorable quotes. These fill in the gaps while the
plot takes a backseat during the first two thirds of the film. All in all, The
Other Guys is a fun and hilarious ride with enough laughs to prompt a visit to
the multiplex.