Big Screen Blurb: The Other Guys (Advanced Screening)

It's not exactly your typical "Good Cop-Bad Cop" routine. It's more like, "Stupid Cop-Anal Accountant". It's Will Ferrell's latest: The Other Guy. When I got Advanced Screening tickets to this flick, I wasn't overjoyed...sure, appreciative, but not estatic. Considering lackluster movies like Land of the Lost, Blades of Glory and Semi-Pro, with the exception of Step Brothers, Will hasn't exactly been hitting it out of the park lately. In fact, I was afraid that this would be a repeat of Talladega Nights, a story only the purest of rednecks could love. Actually, I was afraid that the evening's highlight would be watching a mullett-donning Regal employee with anger issues...we'll call her Ethel, yelling at a kid for bringing in his cell phone and then turning her shouting on the entire crowd...like we were a bunch of smarmy second graders caught with paint smeared on the wall and coincidentally our faces. But alas, the movie started, Ethel finally shut the hell up, and I got to watch a pretty funny movie with my fellow second graders.

It's the story of two cops trying to make a name for themselves in the big city. They're starting out in a major hole. Terry (Mark Wahlberg) is best known for mistakenly shooting NYC icon, Derek Jeter and Allen (Ferrell) is, well, just a former forensic accountant whose claim to fame is shooting his desk. With the city's former media-darling cops recently out of the picture, that coveted position is left vacant and Terry wants it. They get onto something big...yadayadayada and many laughs later, Terry and Allen's attempt at the limelight comically unfolds.

It's good: 3.0 Stars on my scale. Stupid humor is fine with me...entertaining, in fact, as long as it's going somewhere. That was my problem with the frowned-upon Ferrell flicks frequented above. They just didn't go anywhere. With me, stupid for the sake of stupid, is just a waste of my time. It's like watching Nascar. BUT--stupid that weaves into an already funny plot. Hmm, that's a different story. I think that's what you get with The Other Guys. Yeah, it toes the 'stupid' line...maybe even crosses it on occasion and yeah, it might be a little long (1:45), but overall, it's a stupid-funny that works. In other words, it made me laugh and helped me forget all about Ethel.

The acting is pretty good. We figured out that Wahlberg could pull off 'sexy-funny' in Date Night. Now, he pulls off 'angry-funny'...much easier than fighting the wind in The Happening. Ferrell's good, too; and it was great to see Michael Keaton again...especially a funny Michael Keaton. Where has this guy been!?!

The dog days of summer are here, so go see it. All right, that's it for me, gang. I gotta start work...

True...out!