The Other Guys

Terry Hoitz (Wahlberg) and Allen Gamble (Ferrell) are mismatched partners in the New York detective bureau. Hoitz's contempt for spineless bureaucrat Gamble (“paper bitch”) is exceeded only by that in which they are both held by their colleagues. But then the department's top team die in a heroically stupid accident. Could this be the chance for “the other guys” to step up?

Thankfully, The Other Guys doesn't depend on its jokily derivative plot: the film is a series of great set pieces stitched together by running gags (the phrase “soup kitchen” will never mean the same thing again), inspired comic turns (including Michael Keaton as the department chief), and the bickering of its leads.

Gamble is the usual Ferrell boilerplate, a mix of incongruous character traits and antics played with manic conviction; Wahlberg's Hoitz is more subtle, a wounded egotist who has learnt to dance ballet “sarcastically” simply to get back at an ex. Very funny. [Keir Roper-Caldbeck]