The Other Guys – Movie Trailer
Aug 11th
A desk-jockey detective and his tough-talking partner get their moment to shine in this buddy police comedy starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, and directed by Adam McKay (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby). New York City detective Allen Gamble (Ferrell) is more comfortable pushing pencils than busting bad guys. A meticulous forensic accountant, his numbers are never off. Detective Terry Hoitz (Wahlberg) is Gamble’s reluctant partner. Try as Detective Hoitz might to get back on the streets, an embarrassing encounter with Derek Jeter has left a sizable black mark on his permanent record. Detectives Danson (Dwayne Johnson) and Highsmith (Samuel L. Jackson) are the complete opposites of Gamble and Hoitz: unwaveringly confident, they always get their man, and they do it with style to spare. When the time comes for Gamble and Hoitz to prove their mettle and save the day, their incompetence becomes the stuff of legend.
“The Other Guys” To Serve and Embarrass
Aug 11th
“To Serve and Embarrass”
THE OTHER GUYS is a slapstick comedy that stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as the title characters, two New York City policemen who spend most of their time behind a desk back at their precinct filling out the paperwork for the cases that the two highest-profile policemen solve, played by Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson as Detectives Highsmith and Danson.
Ferrell plays Allen Gamble, a forensics accountant for the department, and we eventually learn why he prefers working behind a desk instead of being out on the street, and Wahlberg plays Terry Hoitz, a hot-headed policeman who got demoted to a desk job after he accidentally shot Derek Jeter in the leg at a New York Yankees World Series game.
In other words, Allen and Terry are the policemen you always see in the background of the photos that are taken whenever Highsmith and Danson receive another award from the mayor.
Unlike Allen, who is happy and content with his desk job, Terry is anxious for a chance to get back out on the streets, but he has been attending therapy sessions for six months and has never said a word in the group.
Terry has hidden talents, and after Allen observes him dancing in a studio and Terry explains why he can dance that well, Allen says, “You mean, you learned how to dance like that sarcastically?”
Terry knows that in order to become a good cop, you have to solve cases, and when something happens to Highsmith and Danson, Terry kidnaps Allen and forces him to drive them to the crime scene in Allen’s Prius.
The biggest case that Allen has ever worked before this one was when some scaffolding permits hadn’t been applied for, but now Allen and Terry find themselves involved in a case that consists of destruction of city buildings, robbery, murder, tax evasion, and a possible Ponzi scheme by a British financier.
Allen has a gift for being attractive to beautiful women, and Terry can’t figure out why, especially when he meets Allen’s wife, an emergency-room doctor played by Eva Mendes.
Oh, and Michael Keaton is in it, too, as the captain of the precinct, and everyone is funny.
THE OTHER GUYS takes the police motto of “To serve and protect” and turns it around to “To serve and embarrass.”
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Dinner for Schmucks” Dinner with Redemption
Aug 4th
“Dinner with Redemption”
DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS is a comedy that takes a long time getting to the laughs, and once it does, they are mean-spirited laughs and all at the expense of others.
Steve Carell plays Barry, a meek little man whose hobby is constructing elaborate dioramas that use dead mice dressed up as people in them.
Paul Rudd plays Tim, an analyst on the sixth floor of an investment firm who wants the office of a colleague who just got fired.
In other words, Tim wants a promotion to the top floor, and he gets an opportunity when he comes up with an idea to land a new client for their company who has $100 million to invest.
So, Tim’s boss invites Tim to a dinner party he hosts once a month called “Dinner for Winners,” and the next one is this Saturday. Each person brings a guest who has a skill or talent of some kind, everyone makes fun of them, the winner gets a trophy, and they all are released into the world no more the wiser.
Tim has doubts about this cruelty, and his girlfriend, Julie, doesn’t want him to attend, but then Tim meets Barry, who is a tornado of destruction and makes Tim’s personal life much worse.
Barry has an odd way of thinking, and as he tells Tim, “In the words of John Lennon, ‘You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not.'”
Tim can’t convince Barry that he is leaving off three words at the end, but no matter. Barry doesn’t listen well to others.
You can see the gags coming ahead of time, but you will still laugh, mostly in spite of yourself, and there are two subplots that add to the gags at the dinner party, one involving a woman who has been stalking Tim for three years and the other involving Julie’s relationship with a self-absorbed artist.
The movie wants us to feed sad and sorry for Barry, but we can’t. Also, you might be getting tired of Carell playing an idiot, but he does it so well, doesn’t he?
And as much as you might want to hate this movie for its premise, remember that it is based on a French film, the 1998 THE DINNER GAME.
DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS to its credit, however, redeems itself at the end.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
