Movie Review: “The Other Guys”

Rating: 80

In a fit of astounding comedic energy and brute force, “The Other Guys” resurrects the dead-as-dust buddy-cop movie, and like all miracles it’s a sight to behold. The chemistry between Will Ferrell and director Adam McKay generated the endlessly funny “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” and “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” but with its constant stream of inspired silliness, “The Other Guys” qualifies as the duo’s crowning achievement.

This is about the detectives who get overshadowed by loose-cannon wild cops, spending their days filing paperwork and making coffee while guys like Christopher Danson and P.K. Highsmith (Dwayne Johnson, Samuel L. Jackson) get all the nitro-burning, adrenaline-pumping glory. Allen Gamble (Ferrell) is just fine with this arrangement; he would rather bust property owners for code infractions than pull his weapon.

But his partner, Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg), is going nuts, feeling chained down by Allen’s mild-mannered relationship with the law. He wants to crash cars and crack heads, but both men are hemmed in by their separate and hilarious dark pasts. Fortunately for Allen and Terry, an opening appears thanks to an ingeniously funny twist, and they are soon in hot pursuit of David Ershon (Steve Coogan), a white-collar criminal sitting on a pile of other people’s money.