The Other Guys: Extended Cut

Reviewing this film was one of those cases where you prepare yourself for the worst yet hope for the best as The Other Guys is a film written and directed by Adam McKay whose previous work, particularly films like, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Talladega Nights and Step Brothers, has left me rather cold. I'm also not a great fan of Will Ferrell as he occasionally comes across as a little creepy and is an absolute master at scene stealing thanks to his ad-libbing which is due to his background on Saturday Night Live. Anyway, I decided to wipe the slate clean and go into this with an open mind, pretending that it wasn't a film by Adam McKay.

The first section of The Other Guys follows a couple of superstar detectives, Highsmith and Danson, who wreak havoc throughout New York City in their quest to arrest criminals, in one case causing millions of dollars worth of damage to arrest a few guys who were carrying a tiny amount of marijuana. As the title suggests, not everyone in the NYPD constantly wears sunglasses and picks up commendations from the Mayor but is part of the machinery, doing a fairly menial desk job. Two of these men, Terry Holtz and Allen Gamble feel very differently about their jobs with Holtz desperate to be back in action as he is currently spending time inside the office because of an accidental shooting and Gamble loves his job as a forensic accountant for the NYPD where his weapon of choice is a calculator.

In one of their typically over the top responses, Highsmith and Danson go hell for leather after a gang of diamond thieves but then, quite bizarrely, leap from the top of a 20 story building, 'aiming for the bushes' (of which there are none), causing them to land on solid concrete. With a vacancy for a pair of hotshot detectives, various members of the NYPD want to do their level best to take the place of their late and extremely celebrated colleagues which makes Holtz more determined to make his partner become more of an action man and try and take every call they can. Unfortunately, Gamble wants nothing to do with a call that may possibly be dangerous so, with desperate times calling for desperate measures, Holtz forces his partner to leave the building at gunpoint and drive to a crime scene in his car, which happens to be a Prius, much to the amusement of other detectives and policeman.

When on patrol, they see (or think they see) a man being kidnapped and forced into the back of the car and give pursuit which, when he is released, brings them into contact with, David Ershon, an investment banker who seems to be extremely secretive and doesn't want anything to do with the two cops, even going so far as to give them courtside seats for a New York Knicks basketball game and great theatre tickets just to get them out of his office.


Once they begin investigating David Ershon and the mysterious goings-on surrounding the diamond heist, major discrepancies turn up yet, at every turn, their captain tells them that they are off the case and, eventually has them reassigned so that Holtz is a traffic cop and Gamble has to work a beat. Because of an unfortunate incident in the office when Gamble believed his colleagues about an 'office pop' when they convinced him to discharge his firearm in the office because everyone does it fairly regularly, Captain Gene Mauch takes his weapon and issues him with a wooden pistol. Despite being an 'ordinary guy', albeit with some extremely reserved behaviour and a tendency to be extremely gullible, Gamble has a way with women and the woman he calls his "plain wife" is a Latino beauty who is also a ER doctor (played by Eva Mendes) and Holtz just can't figure out what it is about him that makes him irresistible to the opposite sex.

I tried very hard to forget that this was an Adam McKay film but there were regular moments that reminded me of Anchorman, Talladega Nights or Step Brothers, particularly those involving Will Ferrell, that had McKay's fingerprints all over them and so it wasn't a massive surprise that I didn't find this, as the critic from The Sun who is quoted on the front cover, an "insanely funny film". The opening section with Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson (still known to most people simply as 'The Rock') was directed with great fluency, flair and comic timing, thanks mostly to the interplay between the two actors but, once they are out the way and it is up to Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell to be the comedic duo around which all events and laughs will revolve, it seemed to lose about 90% of the energy and the enjoyment factor it had.


It is quite strange but I found Mark Wahlberg to be the most naturally funny guy amongst the cast, far more amusing than Will Farrell who just seemed to be trying too hard. Wahlberg had a great comedy appearance in a small role inDate Night and it does seem as if he has natural comedy talent, not to mention some nifty dance moves! All in all though, I didn't find myself holding my sides with laughter or even grinning stupidly at times. It seems that Adam McKay's brand of humour doesn't work for me although I can appreciate and understand why other people may think differently and watch his films repeatedly, laughing like drains each time.


The Disc

Extra Features
Rather annoyingly, before you get to the main menu there is a skippable Sony commercial for its upcoming 3-D range of games, movies and TV.

I imagine that, for most people, the main extra feature will be the inclusion of the Extended Version and, when you select Play, you have the choice of watching the theatrical version, extended version and movie IQ. If you select Extended Version you then have the option of watching it with a marker for additional scenes where a pistol appears at the top right-hand corner to indicate material that isn't in the theatrical cut. To be honest, I didn't find that any of the added material (over 9 minutes worth) was essential or made a huge difference to the film and the bits that were trimmed seemed to contain a great deal of swearing so they were probably removed to ensure the PG-13 certificate in the US and 12A over here.

The previews that appeared at the top right hand corner of other releases boasted that this disc has the first-ever "Mom-mentary" and, to be honest, I had no idea what this meant. When I selected it and started the film, I soon realised that this was the most pointless and interminable commentary track ever recorded. Most of the time commentaries involved members of the cast, crew or experts when it comes to old films when no one involved in the production is alive. Quite why this, she doesn't involve anyone involved in the film's production but the mothers of co-writer Chris Henchy, Will Ferrell and director-co-writer Adam McKay is utterly beyond me as they knew nothing about the film's production so were quite happy to watch the film and talk about the food at the premiere and staying in a hotel. Utterly pointless.


Line-O-Rama (8:57, HD) is a montage of actors ad-libbing and shows how much improvisation Adam McKay allows as there are fairly lengthy sections with Will Ferrell or Michael Keaton throwing out different lines and names so it appears McKay wants cast members to experiment with their lines so he can choose the ones that work in the editing process. He even says in one of the extra features that, if an actor is not familiar with improvisation, he sends them to improv classes until they are ready to hold their own and do an unscripted back and forth in front of the camera.

Gag Reel (8:17, HD) is one of those things where the actors fluff their lines, corpse or cause other actors to lose it when they stray from the script and improvise. To be honest, it's not particularly amusing and it's abundantly clear that the actors are having much more fun than I was.

Deleted & Extended Scenes (30:24, HD) seem much longer than on a regular DVD/BD release and it is surprising how much material Adam McKay shot before deciding what to take out when editing. Saying that, the amount of footage left over from Anchorman was enough to make a whole new movie so he is clearly a director who doesn't go for a tight shooting script knowing exactly what you want at the end but wants to make his mind up when it is all 'in the can'. Interestingly enough, I didn't notice that any of these scenes contained footage that is in the extended version of the film and there really isn't much of a drop-off in quality from this omitted material to the stuff that made it to the theatres

Flash Forwards (1:45, HD) is a singularly pointless piece which purports to show you what happened to various characters after their involvement in the film with Paris Hulton making a rather bizarre appearance

Alternate Action (2:42, HD) should really have come under the deleted & extended scenes as it really just includes action sequences that were abbreviated or cut from the film.

Wasn't That??? (15:01, HD) features Adam McKay talking about the amazing cast he assembled including baseball player Derek Jeter some of them appear and give a brief interview this but, underscoring their close relationship (they have worked together since 1995), Will Ferrell probably gives the longest and most numerous interviews. It isn't the most elaborate or interesting of featurettes and is really just an excuse to say "Look what a great cast we have!"

Crash and Burn! (10:06, HD) looks at the action sequences and McKay's attitude towards action in a comedy film and various actors, a stuntman and the stunt coordinator talk about the stunts and how they feel about action sequences.

Why Are There Brits in This Movie? (6:41, HD) is a tongue in cheek piece with Adam McKay and Steve Coogan talking about each other, with McKay basically slagging off England and people with English accents because it is a backwards country and the people hard to understand. To be honest, it isn't as funny as it thinks it is and the worst part may be that some Americans watch it and think that it is absolutely serious.

Rob Riggle Likes to Party (2:32, HD) is a brief piece on the actor who spends the whole time talking about wild parties in which there is massive damage and even fatalities with a completely straight face even though it's abundantly clear that he's making it up as he goes along.

We Shouldn't Kiss Chicken (1:17, HD) is a piece hosted by writer Chris Henchy who explains the rules of the game in which two people who really don't want to kiss each other move closer and closer with the one who pulls away first being the loser; this has footage of various crew members playing the game on set.


Mark Wahlberg's Eating Contest Entourage (3:33, HD) features Mark Wahlberg talking to a guy called 'Nacho' who talks about all the weird and wonderful things he has eaten before demonstrating his ability to consume extremely hot things by downing a glass of hot sauce mixed with a variety of various different extremely spicy foodstuffs. Quite why it's on the disc amongst the special features is beyond me.

Bed Bath and Way Beyond (4:06, HD) involves Michael Keaton talking about his character, Captain Gene Mauch, having a second job at the huge American homeware cellar and what a great job he thought it was. It also has a load of footage of him improvising, some of which is included in the film.

Lendl Global Commercial (0:40, HD) is a commercial for the fictional company mentioned in the film.

Extreme Close Up (5:18, HD) has the camera as close to people's faces as possible whilst they are being interviewed about their characters or what's happening in the scene they are about to shoot. Why, I haven't a clue.

Pimps Don't Cry Music Video (3:50, HD) is, I guess, a comedy song as the video, which includes Eva Mendes who, with a couple of rappers, sings the song, has the logo for funnyordie.com at the bottom left-hand corner.

Everyone Hates the DVD Guy (4:47, HD) seems to be a staged piece in which someone has a camera and elicits angry responses from members of the cast and crew whilst he is filming them as they are sick of doing interviews and other things for the DVD extras. If it's meant to be funny, it isn't and, if it's serious, why is it in the special features?

Previews -- trailers for The Social Network, Salt and Easy A.

So, nothing really of substance and just a whole load of features that will be instantly forgettable.


The Picture
As befitting a film that is only a few months removed from the end of its theatrical run, the picture quality is outstanding with crystal clear visuals, vibrant colours, deep contrast levels and some quality stunt work. Some of the green screen work is a little too obvious but most of the CGI is of a very high standard.

This is really the first action movie that Adam McKay has made and it is shot fairly well without being the work of someone who clearly knows how to ramp up the tension and get the adrenaline pumping. Some of the scenes are quite odd in the way action and comedy are mixed and that is perhaps why some of the laughs just fell flat or disappeared without notice.


The Sound
I went with the English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track rather than the options available in other languages or the Audio Descriptive track and found it to be extremely well mixed with great separation and balance so the dialogue comes across very clearly and the louder effects, such as when there is a car chase or explosion, are delivered with great clarity utilising the full range of speakers.

There isn't a single moment when the dialogue, ambient sounds or bombastic effects interfere with each other and there is a pretty good score to go with some rather unusual source music.

As is usually the case for a Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, there are numerous other audio and subtitling options for people from around the world and with impaired vision and hearing.


Final Thoughts
I wasn't the world's biggest Adam McKay fan going into this and I'm still not converted to his brand of humour. The Other Guys certainly has its moments, especially in the first act when Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson are on screen together whether destroying property or simply just riffing off each other. It's just a shame that the momentum is more or less lost after that despite the best efforts of Steve Coogan and Mark Wahlberg.

The extra features are very much like the film itself: probably best viewed only by those who really love Adam McKay's other films as I found them quite tiresome. In terms of the AV quality, there is absolutely nothing to complain about so it really depends on how you feel about movies such as Anchorman, Step Brothers and Talladega Nights as to whether you will give this a wide berth, rent it or order it immediately.