These Are Your Guys

The genius behind the collaborations of Adam McKay and Will Ferrell is their ability to find originality and hilarity in the mundane. They find comedy in the instances and events that are not considered a gold mine for humor. When they fail to score big laughs is when they break from this formula and lampoon things (ice skating) that are already a laughingstock.
Luckily, Ferrell and McKay have returned to their best ingredients in THE OTHER GUYS. The idea of making a comedy about the average cops that make up most of the forces across the country and are responsible for 98% of the actual work is great.
The movie starts with an immediate bang by ridiculing the over the top action personalities and sequences that make up cop movies. Samuel Jackson and Dwayne Johnson are perfectly cast and perfectly execute the cops that save the day in our summer thrillers. Ultimately, this is the produces one of my favorite laughs in the movie as reality strikes.
Reality doesn't last too long, though, as our everday heroes become the fictionalized Goliaths they're making fun of. That's all fine, because it simply represents the second act in a movie that is basically a series of amusing skits.
The movie works as a series of skits because the skits are funny and they don't need to form some comprehensive scheme. There is no overly complicated plot, at least not one worthy of being followed.
There is an annoying bit that revolves around Ferrell's relationship with his wife, Eva Mendes. The joke is that she's too hot for him, but he acts like nothing is out of the ordinary and she's a plain Jane. This joke is amusing at first, and Mark Wahlberg does an admirable job prolonging it, yet Ferrell totally kills it. He kills it by abhorrent behavior that really soured me on him. This is compounded by a ridiculous back story that was really the only thing in the movie that didn't work.
Wahlberg is dynamite as the serious cop in this screwball comedy. He remains grounded in a way that keeps the movie from spinning off its axises, and yet he still nails every chance he gets to play kooky with Ferrell.

The happy surprise was the comedy chops of Michael Keaton, who has been the funniest thing this summer after this and his role as Ken in TOY STORY 3. As the beleaguered Captain he is extremely likable, grabs big laughs with his ignorance about TLC and really brings it home when he thinks Ferrell is dead at the end of the movie.
All in all this was a good experience. I doubt it will stand repeat viewing, as many of the laughs are derived from their surprise. One of the best examples of this is the bribing executed by Steve Coogan's villain.
So while this movie may not stand the test of time, you should definitely see it now.