Terry (Mark Wahlberg The Departed, Max Payne) and Allen (Will Ferrell Stranger Than Fiction, Old School) both work for the New York police department. They are partners. They have little else in common. They are The Other Guys. In a highly competitive work environment Allen is the calm nerdy police officer content to sit behind his desk happily crunching numbers and staying out of danger while Terry is his high-strung, hyper-masculine, wannabe-icon partner.
The polar opposite personalities of Terry and Allen clash from the beginning and while Will Ferrell plays his typical naive slapstick role, his character is complimented well by Mark Wahlberg's portrayal of a scrappy and approval-seeking partner. While Allen busily punches buttons on a calculator and checks neatly stacked files, Terry eyes him with alternating looks of disgust and embarrassment while playing solitaire on his computer and staring jadedly at his co-workers who he would have passed up in rank were it not for an unfortunate blunder that still serves as a source of ridicule.
The film is pure comedy and spoofs the overt masculinity traditional in most New York-based action movies that involve Hollywood's take on law enforcement. While Terry and Allen try to uncover an investment fraud, Terry guesses drug smuggling as a reason behind every shady move, slides across tables shooting at bad guys, and yells demeaning chauvinist insults at Allen. Together the two have a Pinky-and-the-Brain-like chemistry and where Allen is overly cautious, Terry makes up for it in pure testosterone. Their captain (Michael Keaton Beetle Juice, White Noise) pokes fun at economic reality in contrast to Hollywood-ized police captains by randomly quoting TLC song lyrics throughout the film and revealing that he has to work a second job at Bed, Bath & Beyond to support tuition for his bisexual son.
The Other Guys is a smart spoof of over-masculine action movies and goes over the top with ridiculousness, but never so much so as to provoke an eye-roll over a laugh. Anyone who has seen Die Hard or The Departed more than once will enjoy this comedic take on idolizing the "bad boy" hero.[[In-content Ad]]
