There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg are hilarious gems that bring color and joy to the screen whenever they appear. This is far more than a cop movie. Everyone's acting throughout the movie is exciting and I feel this movie deserves a sequel instead of Daddy's Home.

The Columbia folks must have thought the pairing of Will Farrell and Mark Wahlberg would be a good match for a comedy. But it certainly doesn't work in this film. The comedy in "The Other Guys" is thin at best. That weakness probably has to be chalked up mostly to the writers, for the script seems strained at times. The actors are hesitant in their dialog in places. It all smacks of a combination of a poor script, weak directing, and a plot that just doesn't register. The early scenes with Dwayne Johnson and Samuel Jackson as Danson and Highsmith are even less funny. It's obviously supposed to be a spoof of fast action cop movies. While that's quite clear, it's also clearly a weak and seemingly cheap effort to launch this movie. The only character of some interest is Captain Gene Mauch, played very well by Michael Keaton. Ferrell is just fair but Wahlberg and the rest strike me as the type that filled the B movies of the past. This film shows what Hollywood seems to have evolved into in much of its output so far in the 21st century. It seems obsessed with sex, and this film itself seems a fetish. Especially the scenes in which Ferrell's Allen Gamble and Eva Mendes as Dr. Sheila Gamble, pass descriptive sexual encounter desires to one another through her mother. That seemed to me to be just plain stupid. This is a film any thinking person will want to skip. Those who enjoy good comedies would soon be bored and then rightly miffed at spending any money for this flat piece.

Since the buddy cop movie is a subgenre which, among many requirements, is not supposed to take itself seriously and offer a fair share of crazy action sequences, a spoof doesn't sound like the most original premise. How can you possibly make fun of something fun in the first place? Yet "The Other Guys" works, much to my surprise. While I was expecting a Laurel-and-Hardy-like pairing, you know with the straight man and the lovable buffoon, I was pleasantly surprised by the portrayals of the two cops, and the way their personality completed each other. Mark Wahlberg is Terry, a nervous trigger-happy cop whose career was compromised by the accidental shooting of baseball star Derek Jeter (looking like a suspicious guy with the bat under the shadow), and Will Ferrell is Allen, a passive and sweet office-bound accountant, who doesn't want to get in trouble. These guys form such a perfect pair of losers and loners they're inevitably labeled as the other guys.Now, who's the other's guys' "other guys", so to speak? Well, they make their entrance in one of the most over-the-top and brilliantly unbelievable chase scenes in recent history. It's noisy, nonsensical, each stunt asking more suspension of disbelief than a "Matrix" movie (actually, law of gravity is as disregarded as the penal law), and it features two bankable and believable legitimate movie tough guys through Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. They're the princes of the city, it's like Shaft and McClane under steroids with Starsky and Hutch's street smarts and brotherly love. What a loss when they met with the maker! But what an extraordinarily laugh-out-loud moment! I wish I didn't spoil anything but wasn't it obvious that they would have to leave room to the losers? And there's something so appealing in these guys, starting with their high self-esteem, they know they're only victim of unfortunate circumstances. Terry is actually a good cop and Allen displays a nice amount of wit and verbal come-backs, he also has an irresistible charm with hot women, which wouldn't make sense in a real world, but how about macho Terry who knows about music, dance and modern Art just because he wanted to make fun of some 'gay kid' of the neighborhood? In its own wicked way, the film manages to provide three-dimensional characters, that actually make us care for them. There's something so touching and vulnerable when Terry cries about being a "peacock who dreams of flying" and Allen's retelling of his past provides an interesting twist on his character."The Other Guys" have the characters, and the set-up ending with the previous cops' demise makes us expect a quality comedy movie. I think the good vibrations between Adam McKay and Will Ferrell not only worked, but Mark Wahlberg fits perfectly in this team as he never mocks his own character and plays him with the same respect and seriousness than his usual tough and no-nonsense characters. Ferrell is also remarkable as a guy whose comedic appeal doesn't rely on goofy attitudes or brash reactions, and when it happens a few times, the context makes it totally acceptable. Ferrell shows again his capability to play restrained and intelligent characters as he did in "Stranger Than Fiction" so the performance isn't much a revelation. Actually, the real revelation is in the story.Indeed "The Other Guys" has higher ambitions than the film it actually plays on, it doesn't just try to mock the usual cop archetypes, with the car chases, explosions, Mexican stand-offs, and evil masterminds, it actually has a statement to say about the way the economy works, and how liberal inequality is maintained by corrupt businessmen. A lot has been said about the film's ending credits, and without revealing everything, I must say it kind of killed all the fun, and made me realize that we were ruled by bad guys, basically. With all the Ponzi schemes (think of Madoff) the golden parachutes, and the wages difference between workers and CEO, you just applaud the guts of "The Other Guys" to tackle another kind of villain, than usual terrorists, kidnappers or serial killers.Still, for all the seriousness of the ending credits, McKay never tackles the story in a straight-forwardly serious way, you just have hints of what would become his Oscar-winning screenplay "The Big Short". The core of the movie still relies on the partnership between Allen and Terry, which creates some great interactions, involving metaphorical references (the Tuna vs. Lion speech is a quotable delight), an obligatory bad cop/good cop interrogation and many cute and sweet moments. They never express their mutual fondness but you can tell from their exchange that they respect and like each other, which is good, given the way they're belittled by their colleagues, except for their patient and magnanimous chief Captain Gene, played by Michael Keaton. And to complete the gallery, Eva Mendes is the too-sexy-to-be-true loving housewife and Steve Coogan as the corrupt businessman is a nice completion to the trio, during the third act."The Other Guys" varies from buddy-comedy to social commentary but the ensemble feels solid and well-structured, so that there's no moment whatsoever when we feel lost or that the story is going nowhere. Not all the gags are hilarious, but Adam McKay knows how to put his laugh-out-loud moments in the right places, and the performances of the two actors honor the plot. It's just a pity the film didn't get the success it deserves, but that's the risk with playing with archetypes that are already funny in the first place. I say a pity because this is a duo I would have loved to see again… Such well-written and acted and directed characters as Terry and Allen deserved a sequel.In fact, even Jackson and Johnson's characters deserved a prequel.

The comedy in The Other Guys, comes from the relationship between partners, Detective Allen Gamble (Will Ferrell) and Detective Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg), two desk cops that idolize NYPD heroes Christopher Danson (Dwayne Johnson) and PK Highsmith (Samuel L Jackson). The only problem is that Terry can't stand Allen and his insistence to do menial work. However they learn to get along in order to investigate wealthy businessman David Ershon (Steve Coogan). The movie is a scenario with a bunch of jokes, like a lot of great comedies. Ferrell and Wahlberg are great together, and a lot of the comedy is derived from them. Eventually Ershon gets a lot of laughs when Allen and Terry kidnap him. The bottom line is the movie is really funny. I highly recommend, The Other Guys.