THE OTHER GUYS post-release - Page 2

Saw this last night and had a fun time watching it. I liked Step Brothers better, but that doesn't mean this one wasn't funny. It was hilarious. The still montage of the bar scene had me laughing, but I have to agree about Michael Keaton. He does so much good in the movie. This and Toy Story 3 make him the RDJ/Mickey Rourke of the year. He needs to headline another movie.

The constant callbacks to so many things should get annoying, but they never do. "We will have sex in your Prius!" The TLC stuff was left field gold.

Hilarious damned movie. Even though it did seem to drag a bit, everything was great. The Ice-T narration was a bit outta left field but it worked. And I loved the way Sam and the Rock went out.

Funniest thing to me was how they kept getting their shoes stolen. That and the ticket bribery,the whole theatre exploded when the Jersey Boys part started up.

Where would I rank it in the McKay/Ferrell pantheon...tough to say until I see it a few more times. But on snap reaction I'd put it 3rd behind Anchorman and Step Brothers. Step Brothers has only gotten better and TD Nights has gotten a bit stale. And that's not a put down on TD Nights. It's still funnier than 90% of the stuff out there.

Forgot to mention that they played the Jackass 3D trailer before the movie, and the biggest laugh was the "HIGH FIVE!" The WHOLE audience busted out laughing at it and kept laughing through the first half of the next trailer. That movie is going to make a SHIT LOAD of money.

Like everything McKay I think this will age better on DVD. At first watch it's very funny, but has the worst ending/ramp to the ending of any of his. But, as funny as Anchorman is, I think after "Go fuck yourself, San Diego" it also drops the laugh quotient about equal to this, so its in good company. I laughed hardest definitely at how Jackson/The Rock died. It takes them so long to hit the ground and the song puts it over the top.

And as everyone said, Keaton is their big secret weapon. The brief moment of him dropping the gun on the table as he answers the phone had me laughing so hard. And the serial killer rapist bit when he's talking to the Bed Bath and Beyond workers. "Well, don't ignore it if you live on that street." He's so good in this.

Keaton deserves every bit of the praise he's been getting in here. Loved the bit at the end where he braces himself on the just-shot Ferrell to stand up because of his bad knee. Enjoyed the whole thing, but I think my biggest laugh came from that ridiculous lion/tuna scenario that Ferrell goes on and on and on and on about at the beginning. So good. "That didn't go the way you thought it would, did it?"

Damnit, I had forgotten about the tuna scenario. That was amazing.

Mark Wahlberg's reaction to the tuna/lion scenario was pretty funny, too.

Love the nice "New York Observer . . . online" bit at the beginning, followed by "TMZ--Print edition!"

loved the part after the explosion at the accountants when Ferrell calls bullshit on the Millinium Falcon escaping in ROTJ. And Wahlberg responds "don't say that about Star Wars, everything in the movie was accurate."

What was the last thing he said just before the scene faded out? "I feel like I need to breastfeed?"

I thought they could have done more with the CRIME SCENE TWEETING idea.

I guess it's just me, but I find constant non sequiturs like that to be tiresome. There's nothing in this film as dire as the "Jesus was a ninja" dinner table scene in Talladega Nights, but I still have trouble responding to this kind of humor, it just seems lazy to me.

Wha?

I don't understand why you subject yourself to McKay/Ferrell films. That's their whole comedy style. If it's not for you it'll never be for you.

That's right, I fucking hate that scene as I think it typifies the excess of this style of comedy.

Edit: In response to Faraci. Sometimes the style can lead to some inspired material, but as I said about the Talladega Nights scene, the perils of pursuing it can lead to scenes so forced and strung together to the point where they just die on screen.

Doesn't really make sense for you to have seen this movie in that case.

McKay's writing style is predicated on non-sequiturs and left field remarks. I kinda understand what you're saying, though. I personally find that shit hilarious.

I totally missed that last Walhberg line-- guess I was laughing too hard at the Falcon bit. This was a great scene.

I'VE DEFINITELY GOT SOFT TISSUE DAMAGE!

I laughed so fucking hard at that part.


"I just tweeted 'At the crime scene LOL.'"

Not a big Anchorman/McKay fan here, and I never would have guessed this film had the same director. I put it up to the surprisingly well-structured script.

Ferrell was under control and in character, which was nice to see. Wahlberg was definitely out of his depth, but not for lack of trying-- he just needs someone to teach him how to do a slow burn. I'm going with Eva Mendes as the movie's MVP.

My crowd enjoyed the movie, but there were very few big laughs. Stony silence for that one shot of Pimp Ferrell with the grill.

I feel sowwy for their mah-thas.

Hate when a comedy is so funny I miss dialogue. Sheila's mom: "I really don't want to say what he said. It involved a mannequin hand" and that's where I lost it. I think I heard "golf club" in there too.

Wahlberg's immediate shift from Departed bad-ass to smitten, sensitive Dirk Diggler whenever Sheila was around cracked me up.

"I WILL MAKE YOU EAT A PLATE OF HUMAN SHIT" killed me. As did seeing the guys courtside with Rosie Perez, Brooke Shields and Tracy Morgan. (Who has now been in the year's best and worst cop-buddy comedies.) Even the editing in this was funny.

A mannequin hand, and an electric razor taped to a golf club.

Thankyew.

Also, Keaton is indeed a golden god in this. "Don't call me Captain Gene. I don't have a kiddie show."

Michael Keaton really redeemed this movie to me. His timing was perfect... on the other hand, I thought that Ferrel and Wahlberg were a little too loose and bland. With the exception of Jackson and Rock's death and the mother-in-law's classic, gutter mouth scene, the movie was just a little too anodyne for me.

I saw a trailer preceding the film, some screwball artificial insemination movie...and apparently Jeff Goldblum is playing a supporting role in it. Anywise, having seen two of my favorite actors, Goldblum and Keaton, together in the theatre made me think that "The Other Guys" would've been so much better if they'd starred in the lead roles instead.

Loved this. I'm going to be giggling over the Rock/Sam Jackson jump for years.

I personally find the "whisper fight" to be the most inspired bit in the film the more I think about it. That is genius comedy on so many levels. It's very much in the McKay/Ferrell wheelhouse, but I could see that working in so many other films too.

Also, the Keaton/TLC thing could've been way too left-field I think, but Keaton sells it so well.

The film is growing on me the more I think about it.

The great thing about the jump is that it keeps going. And I always remember Mr Beaks complaining about the jump in M:I:3 off the building, that Abrams fucked the scene cause he cuts too soon. Which he does. The great thing is that McKay keeps the shot going, and if you don't know it's coming, you wonder what the fuck is going to happen until BOOM. I'm happy the internet - or at least my friends - did not spoil that for me.

Wahlberg here is the weak link, and his character is malformed in the current version, and - in the end - so is their relationship. I guess you can call that the periphery of the film, and I don't think it matters, but that's probably why I think it's the weakest of McKay's four. Still, Jesus Christ is it good.

Wahlberg needed to be allowed to curse more, maybe the Unrated version will fix this? I think they missed an opportunity not doing more to send up Dignam but they probably thought that was too obvious?

In any case, a lot of the jokes fell flat for me but I think I'll like it a lot more on a second viewing. There were some great laughs but I felt myself a bit bored during parts of it. I'm someone who hated Anchorman the first time I saw it (love it now) and have only seen Talledega or Stepbrothers a couple of times each (should watch them both again soon).

I share similar sentiments with many previous posters; great first half, somewhat saggy second. The plot isn't interesting, so once it takes over the energy deflates a tad. Still, some very funny gags. I was particularly amused by Ferrell's off-hand reference about using Adobe Movie Maker to edit three minutes out of Goodfellas.

I think I was the only one in my theater who laughed at that, which is a little worrying, but damn if that wasn't a great bit. For whatever reason though, Wahlberg reaching over to touch Coogan's hair had me in fucking stitches.

There was an old guy in the theatre I was in that said, "WHAT?!?" as soon as they landed face down. That caused my laughter to go a little over the top.

I'm in north NJ, and the throw away "You should have shot A-Rod" line got maybe the biggest reaction of the entire film. I'm betting that is a regional anomaly, though.

I think the films running side gags were pretty decent, along with Keaton who was gold in every scene.

Ditto on Bale replacing Wahlberg, at least he would of been able to be funny when it needed to be (for some reason the Jared Leto meets axe scene in American Psycho shows he could).

For some reason the line that keeps making me laugh is when Ferrell is talking about how he met his wife when he had poison oak on his ass and she was the emergency room doctor, and Mendes pops in with "Right up in there..."

I thought Mark Wahlberg was hilarious in this movie. He made me laugh more than anyone else.

Just saw this with the fiance and we both loved it. She doesnt like Will Ferrell at all but liked him in this.

The Jackson/Rock death scene was tge hardest I have laughed in a theater in years. That must have taken a good 5 minutes for me to get over and compose myself. The funniest part was that I never even saw any bushes.

There wasn't even an awning nearby or anything.

I could see why they picked him. Who wouldn't want the character Wahlberg played in The Departed in a McKay movie? The guy just needed to let loose a little and swear inventively. But I thought he ultimately worked and when he went bizarre, was pretty funny.

The last page had someone comparing this to Hot Fuzz, and while The Other Guys don't really have much to do with Wright's movie, they do share an abiding appreciation for the genre they're working with.

It got a big laugh in my theater too. A-Rod hatred is going strong all over the Northeast, apparently.

The hot dog vendor at the press conference had me laughing pretty damn hard.

"Free hot dogs...for life!" (Crowd roars with approval). "No drinks though...I...I can't do it." (Crowd boos loudly in disgust).

Kinda loved this. Worked best when it just went full random. Missed the entire funeral scene after the jump due to a laughing fit. Half-couldn't believe it, half expected it to be wetter.

I did not expect to love this as much as I did. Keaton dropping the gun on his desk and Ferrell's line about thinking toothpaste was astronaut food had me laughing inconsiderately hard in a not-packed-at-all theater.

No, it got a big laugh from my crowd as well.

I'm not a huge Farrell fan, but I had a great time with this. I think what Devin mentioned in his review, how Farrell toned down his usual schtick, helped a lot.

What was really funny was that we got the trailer for Dwayne Johnson's Faster right before this, so when the film started and there's Johnson on top of the car, it made me think we were seeing a movie within a movie. So when we continued on and realized Farrell and Wahlberg were actual in that world, the film had me. Still would love to see a Danson and Highsmith movie though.

The bearded husband chasing them down in their car was another huge laugh in my showing, especially Ferrell's "We're miles way!" (or something like that, hard to hear over the laughter). And damn did Keaton remind me of Beetlejuice for some reason. Maybe it's the gravel in his voice.

Wow, saw this on Friday night (to a semi-crowded theater) and loved it as did the crowd.

*Wailing sax*

I saw Scott Pilgrim the same weekend and this is the one I'm still talking about ... an outcome I was not expecting at all. Ferrel is great, Keaton was hilarious as well, and Wahlberg was unexpectedly good given what I'd heard.

The end is a bit weak but it was easy to forgive with everything else that was before. It did feel tighter than most other McKay films though.

One thing I found genuinely technically interesting was the way they did the Ferrel/Wahlberg drinking scene. Just a unique way that I'd never seen before.

Loved this movie. My only bummer is that I saw a review that spoiled Johnson/Jackson's deaths. Kinda ruined the whole jump for me.

I've liked Wahlberg in a lot of movies, even bottom of the barrel fare like The Big Hit. He just didn't work for me at all in this one, though. His presence in the film just felt too contrived.

I couldn't feel any chemistry between him and Ferrell, and that needed to be the back bone of the movie. For example, Ferrell and John C Riley in Step Brothers were pure gold any time they were on the screen. Here, it was like Wahlberg was sucking all the air out of the room.

There were good gags, good laughs, some amusing non sequiturs, but they needed a stronger foundation to work with. I was pretty disappointed.

There really shouldn't have been chemistry between the two until the end. Wahlberg's character despises Ferrell's character.

It's only closer to the middle/end that they bond. I was fine with their relationship.

Saw this last night and loved it. Actually reminded me of a more off-the-walls version of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang than anything else. I thought Wahlberg would be a lot more rigid and awkward, but he was actually pretty good, and I absolutely loved all the banter between him and Ferrell. The whole lion versus tuna thing had me in stitches. Also the wooden gun being returned to him, all lacquered.

It did feel like the laughs were very front-loaded. Once the plot started moving along in the third act, the laughs didn't come as regularly, but they were there. Keaton is the MVP for sure.

Need to let this digest after a few more viewings, but if I were to make a McKay list now (and who can resist lists!), it'd be neck and neck with Step Brothers:
1. Anchorman
2. Step Brothers
3. Other Guys
4. Talledega Nights

Agreed. While I laughed aplenty in the theater, I just think McKay's stuff works better on home video rather than the big screen.

Loved, loved the wailing sax. I don't think anyone else in the theater really even recognized what McKay was doing there.

And agreed with the reiterated points here - Jackson's/Rock's jump had me in tears. Loved the Prius callbacks (McKay's cameo in particular). The TLC randomness was just awesome. And Ferrell playing it straight was fantastic. Also agree Wahlberg was fine, but Bale would have been inspired casting.

I will say the actual "plot"/crime was pretty boring. On the big screen, it detracted some for me, but I am sure repeat viewings will move it firmly to the background and bring all the humor to the fore.

And since we're rating:

1. Talladega Nights
2. Anchorman
3. Stepbrothers
4. The Other Guys

But that's really arbitrary, as I love all of them.