Movie Review: The Other Guys

Details: Released in 2010. Stars Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg. About an hour and fifty minutes long. Rated PG-13.

Up until a few weeks ago, I had never seen The Other Guys. What a fool I’ve been. The Other Guys is one of the best comedies I’ve seen in a long time.

The Other Guys is a Will Ferrell styled comedy about two lame police officers who want to be successful police officers. If you’ve seen other Will Ferrell comedies, then you should know what you’re in for. If not, then expect stupid, toilet humor and lots of celebrity appearances.

This film is largely a parody of police genre shows, but even further, it’s just a setting for Ferrell and friends to launch off into hilarious bits and sketches. There are so many funny scenes in this that were exactly the kind of humor I enjoy. I think there is a valid argument that this is the funniest Ferrell comedy in his career.

Everyone in this movie does a great job. The straight men do their parts well and the funny guys are hilarious when they’re supposed to be. Even the guest stars (like Derek Jeter) are great. Wahlberg and Ferrell were especially good. They make a great team and play off each other well.

The only issue I can think of for the film is that many people might simply hate Ferrell’s style of humor. It’s dumb, childish humor. I love it, but I can foresee other people not feeling the same way.

Overall, a great comedy that I thoroughly recommend. Additionally, it got a PG-13 rating so younger people can watch it, too. I can confirm that there’s nothing that racy in the film, just stupid funny humor.

Score: 8/10

Movie Review: The Lego Movie (2014)

Details: Animated adventure film starring Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, and Will Ferrell among others. Run time is one hour and forty seconds.

Since this is my first movie review,  I should state how these reviews will go. I am only going to discuss the aspects of whatever I’m reviewing that were interesting to me. I am unlikely to cover every character and element of the plot in the film. Now let’s get to it.

Originally, I had very low expectations for the movie. It was difficult to imagine a Lego movie that portrayed any kind of meaningful story and was not just one big advertisement for Lego, similarly to how Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle was a big advertisement for those little burgers/digestive-tract-self-destruct devices.

However, a friend raved about the film. Of note is that this friend hypes everything he remotely likes like Macho Man Randy Savage selling a Slim Jim. However, I figured if the movie was not completely terrible, it may be worth a watch.

So, me and two friends went to the movie. There was a Toys R Us on the other side of said theater in case the movie was so great we needed to buy some Legos afterwards.

Overall, the movie wasn’t bad. Frankly, it was exactly what I expected. It was as if someone with an Adderall addiction went off their medication and wrote the screenplay for this film. In other words, it was written to imitate a child’s perspective and it does this well.

There were many funny moments. Morgan Freeman’s performance was noteworthy. Although, I feel like I will love just about anything where I get to hear Morgan Freeman’s voice, i.e. the voice of God.

The funniest moments easily belong to Batman (played by Will Arnett). One scene that stays with me (*SPOILERS*) was when they flew Batman’s Batplane into the sunset, and someone comments that they are going to crash, to which Batman retorts, “Yeah, but it’ll look really cool.” They then fly through the sun leaving a bat shaped hole in the sun (*END SPOILERS*).

Ultimately, should you watch this movie? If you’ve ever owned Legos or if you have children, then yes. I watched the movie in the afternoon with an audience filled with kids.

Speaking of children, sometimes you forget how different adults are from children. In this case, the kids ignored all the parts I found funny and instead laughed at all the places I didn’t. They still seemed to enjoy themselves though.

Score: 7/10