Micro Review: The Other Guys

A fun and funny riff on the buddy cop/action genre made popular in the 1980s, with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg playing their mismatched partners to the hilt. This is everything Cop Out should have been: clever, exciting, witty and silly without being stupid. The action sequences are brisk and well staged and the humour works more often than it doesn't. I laughed a lot through The Other Guys, which is more than I can say for most mainstream comedies these days. That, and the fact the film is narrated by Ice T and features the sexy Eva Medes, earns this a Good from me. FYI: Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson, who play the hero cops, aren't in this for long. Fans take note.

Micro Review: Cop Out

Not the crapfest many critics and filmgoers have claimed it to be, but nothing to write home about either. The film is saved by the presence of The Bruce and a welcome supporting role played by Sean William Scott. Tracy Morgan's performance becomes tolerable as the film rolls along, and his fight with a foul-mouthed 10-year-old car thief is hilarious. The rest of the film is uninspired and there are too many gaps between laughs. Director Kevin Smith really doesn't know how to shoot an action scene either. They aren't poorly staged, but the gunfire fails to generate excitement. A Bad review from The Basement on this, at least as far as Jay is concerned.