I'm certain that my definition of brilliance in filmmaking is different from the definition others may espouse. In my estimation, Adam McKay has made an utterly brilliant film with his comedic parnter, Will Ferrell. The movie is called The Other Guys. I don't know if anyone noticed, but it was released last weekend. Oh, wait, people did notice because it finally toppled that one brainy movie, Inception, from the number one position that it held at the box office for so many ridiculous weeks. At long last Leonardo DiCaprio and the guy who made that movie about the Joker a couple of years ago were given the what-for, by a titanic trio comprised of the aforementioned McKay and Ferrell and joined this time around by Mark Wahlberg.
It takes a certain bent kind of brain to truly appreciate movies like Anchorman and Talladega Nights and their relatives - Napoleon Dynamite, Hot Shots, The Naked Gun, Austin Powers; you get the idea. And these films are all due to the legendary screwball comedies like Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, and The Greatest Movie Ever Made, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Those of us who love these movies will laugh hysterically at them no matter how many times we've seen them; we quote their lines in every appropriate and inappropriate occasion; we have parties for the sole reason of watching them. The Other Guys absolutely falls into this category. I can tell you right now that it will be watched repeatedly at my house and my parties. It also, somehow, transcends the genre. Slightly. Just enough to make it brilliant.
Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg play the titular “other guys” in this parody of buddy-cop movies. Ferrell is Allen Gamble, a boring forensic accountant (I don't even know if that's real, and I'm not sure I care, what an accolade that is) who is perfectly happy sitting at a desk humming and smiling to himself. He's a touchy-feely nerd with a gorgeous wife - and he used to be a pimp. It's so absurd that only Will Ferrell could pull it off. He seems more natural in the role as ever before.
.jpg?t=20130517094513)
Article comments
1 - Victor Lana
Sounds like anyone who likes this kind of thing will be happy with this film. I can't say how many times I've laughed at the same jokes in the movies you've noted, but I guess that makes us all members of the same club.
2 - Gray Hunter
Right on, Victor. My friends and I watch these movies at a near-quarterly film festival we affectionately and derisively call WarpFest. So, we're the WarpFest Club. Glad to hear you're in!