Detectives Highsmith and Danson are the best working for the police department. However, they die in a chase, which finally gives the opportunity to Detective Allen, an accountant, and Detective Terry to get out of the office and try to solve a case on field work. They arrest millionaire Ershon for a scaffolding permit violation, yet quickly find out that he hides a much bigger affair. However, police Captain Gene orders them to drop the case, citing pressure from above. Terry and Allen refuse and continue their investigation against Ershon. They find out about his billion $ embezzlement and financial fraud, and have to fight criminals. In the end, Ershon is arrested and Terry and Allen are rehabilitated.
The director Adam McKay assembled several "broad comedies" early on in his career, all starring comedian Will Ferrell, yet, luckily, "The Other Guys" is a notch above the typical stupid comedy genre, though not that much. In this edition, McKay restrained Ferrell, not allowing him to go overboard with the latter typical grimaces, shouting or juvenile attitude, and instead gave him glasses and ordered him to play a more intellectual type, Detective Allen, which is refreshing. The movie is still an outrageous comedy at times, cramming several insane, absurd or downright batty jokes, but it also seemeed to have planted seeds for McKay's later foray into more ambitious territory with "The Big Short", since the police case here revolves around financial fraud involving embezzlement, accounting forgery and the infamous Ponzi scheme. The gags are full of surprises: for instance, in the opening sequence, Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson play seemingly invincible super cops, who survive shootings, car chases and explosions without any scratch. And then, during their next assignment, they get a bit "carried away" when they chase criminals, so they simply decide to jump from a 20-story building and land in the bushes. Except that they land on the concrete. Cut to the next scene of their police funeral, in a sarcastic conclusion. Michael Keaton shows up as the police Captain Gene: in his best joke, it is revealed that Gene works a second job as a clerk in a warehouse, which is hilarious. For all the omissions and some silly or questionable solutions, McKay once again proved that he has an ace in his sleeve, at least one howlingly funny gem of a joke that is impossible not to laugh. Here, it involves the seemingly fragile, old Mama Ramos, who has to secretly transmit messages between her daughter Sheila, who is under house surveillance, and her husband, Allen, who is hiding in the bushes. It would be a shame to spoil the joke and its royally juicy laugh, but suffice to say that Mama Ramos is annoyed by transmitting their private messages, including the insane line: "She wants to walk wrong for a week... because you guys did it so hard."
Grade:++
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