I probably never laughed out loud, lost in the utter looniness as with their masterpiece Anchorman, but Adam McKay and Will Ferrell’s latest collaboration made me smile like I was riding a bear.
The only thing wrong with the film was a slight bit of drag–Hot Fuzz beat them to the loving recreation of action tropes, and even in that film I found myself wondering if I needed so exact an echo. But The Other Guys is happy to ride the bear into whatever back-alleys come along, embracing their own sublime surreality while underscoring the silly surreality of a) the performance of masculinity in cop films and b) the American fascination with rogue cops (fighting drug cartels, guns blazing) while blinking nervously then looking away from the high crimes of our financial overlords. It’s smart and it’s always funny.
this was the one movie i watched on my recent flights that did not suck. in fact, i liked it a lot. and unlike mike, i did laugh out loud once (which is a very weird thing to do on a plane): during the lion/tuna exchange early on. but it was very funny throughout. where this falls short of anchorman is in the forced screwballness of some of the scenes. all the actors are very good in this–including samuel l. jackson, who is clearly only good now when he is knowingly parodying himself.