Please not another guys...

The Other Guys
Starring: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Samuel L Jackson, Dwayne Johnson
Director: Adam Mckay
Rating: 2 and a half (out of 5)

Summary: Infamous NYPD Detectives Danson (Dwayne Johnson) and Highsmith (Jackson) are the best in the force and the toast of city. After their unusual, unfortunate deaths in the line of duty, not so infamous Detectives Gamble (Ferrell) and Hoitz (Wahlberg) decide to take up the mantle of hero cops and stop simply being nobodies. Or The Other Guys...

Starting with a high speed chase through the streets of New York and continuing the high octance action spills and thrills over the course of the first 10 minutes, The Other Guys sets out its stall early on with the knowing banter between unlikely comedy duo Jackson and Johnson. In fact, killing them off so soon into the film, like a bad punchline to a killer set up, means the film struggles to hit that momentum again over the course of the ensuing 100 minutes - as Ferrell and Wahlberg struggle to generate an ounce of the same chemistry.

Which is a shame because at the heart of The Other Guys is an old fashioned mismatched buddy cop comedy that could have been so much more. With its intimidating ensemble cast which includes an underused Steve Coogan, Michael Keaton as a ball busting Captain and Eva Mendes as Ferrell's glamorous wife - and the subject of an increasingly unfunny and repetitive joke - everything was set for one of those "laugh out loud a minute" films that the bus advertising and TV spots promise so often.

Unfortunately this isn't so much laugh out loud a minute more nod off a minute as the jokes become lamer, the action more tired and the nonsensical plot stretched to a "huh?" breaking point. Director Adam McKay managed to capture the hearts, minds and collective funny bones of a generation with Anchorman and he has struggled in three Ferrell celluloid collaborations since then to repeat the trick. They obviously enjoy working together, their numerous shorts on Funny or Die testify to this, but it's time to end this partnership. The magic has gone and I don't think it will return.

Compare it to an abusive, co dependent relationship. McKay feeds Ferrell's habit at the expense of our viewing pleasure. Allowing him to ad lib on countless occasions to the detriment of character development because, yes even in a comedy, you need to have some kind of connection with the audience. At least being likeable would have been a start. As the ad libs become more and more obscure, to the point of pop culture surrealism, I laughed less and less and so did everyone else.

A vanity project with no heart, if Anchorman was lightning in a bottle then The Other Guys is shit in a test tube.