August 6, 2010 by The Sanford Herald

Entertainment

The Sanford Herald / Friday, August 6, 2010 / 11A

MOVIE REVIEW: THE OTHER GUYS

E-BRIEFS

A little long, but Ferrell has another hit By NEIL MORRIS

The Other Guys

The Reel Deal

f nothing else, “The Other Guys” demonstrates how Will Ferrell can perpetuate his comedic film career. His character, NYPD desk-jockey Allen Gamble, is a milquetoast variety of Ferrell’s typical buffoonish man-child, sans the conflated pomposity and loutishness that fueled roles in “Anchorman” and (the overrated) “Talladega Nights” but had grown increasingly irksome in the lackluster “Blades of Glory,” “Semi-Pro,” and “Step Brothers.” To wit, Allen is a schmo who takes a job as a police forensic accountant and wiles away his days filing paperwork because it is the farthest thing from his previous job as a college campus pimp named “Gator.” He takes illogical pains to downplay the patent, stunning beauty of his physician wife (Eva Mendes). He drives a red Prius and cranks Little River Band to get his adventurous juices flowing. Indeed, riffing on tropes is the overarching theme of “The Other Guys,” which opens with the Wile E. Coyote, pseudo-heroics of two shades-and-leathercoat-wearing, muscle cardriving bad boy supercops, portrayed terrifically by Samuel L. Jackson and

AP photo

In this film publicity image released by Columbia Pictures, Mark Wahlberg, right, and Will Ferrell are shown in a scene from “The Other Guys.” Dwayne Johnson (prequel, please?). On the other side of the squad room are Allen and his partner Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg), a hot head who was busted down to desk-duty after an unfortunate incident that earned him the nickname “Yankee Clipper.” Allen and Terry soon set out to earn their piece of precinct cred by cracking an elaborate white-collar caper hatched by Wall St. jillionaire David Ershon (Steve Googan). Hamstringing them throughout is crippling social ineptitude, Terry’s active distain for his partner, and the stock irascible police captain (Michael Keaton), albeit one who moonlights as a manager at Ben Bath & Beyond and harbors an unwitting penchant for quoting lyrics

from TLC songs. Yes, this is the buddycop spoof that “Cop Out” wanted to be. Director and longtime Ferrell collaborator Adam McKay knows how to strike just the right absurdist chord, blending a panoply of explosions and car crashes — and a gunfight that is a sly homage to John Woo — with scenes like an extended monologue in which Allen explains why tuna would win a war against lions (it’s as funny as it sounds). If Ferrell is playing partly against type, then Wahlberg falls headlong into it, riffing on his Oscar-nominated, hothead cop role from “The Departed.” And, there’s subtle satire in casting corporate villains instead of the stereotypical drugs-andthugs sort, although the

Grade: B Director: Adam McKay Starring: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton, and Steve Googan MPAA Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 1 hour, 47 minutes Theaters: Spring Lane Cinemas in Sanford; Southern Pines Cinemas in Southern Pines; Crossroads 20 in Cary

film unsuccessfully strains for import when it litters the closing credits with sundry real-life statistics about corporate greed and the widening wealth gap. The laffs wane towards the end of “The Other Guys,” devolving into a series of callbacks to earlier gags — the film could have easily been trimmed by about 15 minutes — that keep it from reaching rarified “Naked Gun” air. Ferrell and Co. work best when they leave the arena of parody and embrace the bizarre, like Ferrell and Mendes’s dinner-table crooning of a ballad named “Pimps Don’t Cry” or Allen plowing through crime scene cadavers, coating his Prius in a sheet of cocaine in the process. Mindless comedy is rarely this knowing. Neil Morris can be reached via e-mail at thereeldeal@earthlink.net.

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Wyclef files to run for Haiti president PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Singer Wyclef Jean submitted the paperwork Thursday to run for president of Haiti, formally thrusting himself into what is expected to be a highly competitive race and ending years of speculaJean tion about his political ambitions. Dozens of supporters of the hip hop artist-turned-politician cheered as he arrived by motorcade in a dark suit and tie at an electoral office in a capital city still largely in ruins from the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake. Jean, who was accompanied by his wife and daughter, stood on top of an SUV and bowed to the crowd. “It’s a moment in time and in history,” Jean told The Associated Press as he went to hand in his candidacy papers, 10 minutes before the office closed. “It’s very emotional.” The winner of the Nov. 28 election will preside over the billions in international aid being channeled to Haiti to rebuild after the earthquake, which killed an estimated 300,000 people and destroyed thousands of buildings, including most government ministries. If Jean’s candidacy is approved, Jean will face several candidates who lack his international fame but have more political clout. Among the most formidable contestants will be ousted

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ex-Prime Minister JacquesEdouard Alexis, who secured the backing of President Rene Preval’s powerful Unity party this week. Preval is barred from running by the constitution. Jean was born on the outskirts of the Port-au-Prince but left the country as a child and grew up in Brooklyn. He gained fame as a member of the Fugees and went on to have a successful solo career. In recent years, he has been active in Haiti with the charity Yele Haiti, prompting long-running speculation that he would run for president one day.

Salahi’s scrap at ‘View’ dominates ‘Today’ show NEW YORK (AP) — Michaele Salahi’s dustup with Whoopi Goldberg was Topic A when the alleged White House gatecrasher and her fellow cast members from “The Real Housewives of D.C.” appeared on Thursday’s “Today” show. Then, an hour later on “The View,” Goldberg gave her own account in this case of She-said, She-said. The five “D.C. Housewives” were guests on NBC’s “Today” to promote Thursday’s premiere of the Bravo reality show. But co-hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb immediately seized on the shouting match that had erupted after Wednesday’s edition of “The View” between Salahi, a guest along with the other “Housewives,” and “View” co-host Goldberg. Goldberg, who was not among the interviewers for that segment, had stepped onto the set of the ABC talk show to urge Salahi to discuss the night she and her husband allegedly crashed President Barack Obama’s state dinner last fall. As she spoke to her, Goldberg could be seen by viewers touching Salahi’s arm. After the show was over, Salahi said on “Today,” Goldberg confronted her sharply, using obscene language and demanding to know if she had accused Goldberg of hitting her.

Drug bottles found in Anna Nicole Smith death room LOS ANGELES (AP) — Drug bottles, a duffel bag full of cash and Anna Nicole Smith’s sobbing boyfriend were found in the Florida hotel room where the Playboy model died of an overdose three years ago, a police detective testified Thursday. Detective Katherine Frank was the first witness to take the stand in the trial of Smith’s lawyer-boyfriend, Howard K. Stern, and two doctors who have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to supply the model with vast amounts of powerful opiates and sedatives.

Showtimes for Aug. 6 - Aug. 12 Advance Tickets On Sale Now Summer Children’s Series 8/10 & 8/12 The Tooth Fairy

The Other Guys PG-13 1:00 3:15 5:30 7:45 10:00 Step Up 3 3D PG-13 1:00 3:10 5:20 7:30 9:40 Cats And Dogs 3D PG 1:15 3:15 5:15 7:15 9:25 Despicable Me 3D PG 1:25 3:25 5:25 7:25 9:30 *Dinner For Schmucks PG-13 1:05 3:20 5:35 7:50 10:05 *Salt PG-13 1:20 3:25 5:30 7:35 9:40 *Charlie St. Cloud PG-13 1:10 3:15 5:20 7:25 9:35 *Inception PG-13 1:20 4:00 7:00 9:45 Twilight Eclipse PG-13 7:10 9:40 Toy Story 3 3D G 1:40 5:00 Ramona & Beezus G 1:00 5:10 The Sorcerer’s Apprentice PG 3:05 7:20 9:35 *Bargain Matinees - All Shows Starting Before 5pm - $7.00 - Special Pricing Surcharge For All 3-D Features ** No Passes Accepted **Advance Tickets Available at www.franktheatres.com

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