The Other Guys

Let's face it. As recently as a year ago, Will Ferrell's movie career was in trouble. He seemingly ran his man-child persona into the ground with "Semi-Pro" and "Step Brothers," then followed that up with an embarrassing cash-in, "Land of the Lost."

But then he got his mojo back with "The Other Guys," a film that's just different enough from Ferrell's previous efforts to feel fresh and hilarious. (Interestingly, Ferrell doesn't get a writing credit here, although frequent partner Adam McKay does.) Instead of playing another ignorant, spoiled brat, Ferrell plays Allen Gamble, a mild-mannered accountant for the NYPD. Gamble is so bland that he has six Little River Band CDs in his car and so naive that he unwittingly accepts a bribe to see "Jersey Boys." For extra zaniness, he used to be a pimp named Gator.

"The Other Guys" also doesn't pair Ferrell with a fellow man-child. Instead he gets a genuine foil in Mark Wahlberg. Wahlberg plays Terry Hoitz, a live-wire cop who makes up for his stupidity with energy. (Throughout the film, he's convinced that the accounting scandal they're investigating involves Columbian drug lords.) Wahlberg has a narrow range, but he can do this type of role extremely well: lots of yelling and confused looks. (That's a compliment, I swear.)

There's even a semi-relevant plot! In the wake of the financial crisis, "The Other Guys" focuses on accounting fraud, highlighting the fact that white-collar crime is often far more consequential than the robberies and drug busts we typically associate with police work. (The contrast is drawn with some hilariously over-the-top action sequences featuring Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson.)

But really, we're here for the laughs, not the story. Like all good comedies, "The Other Guys" understands this. And so the jokes keep coming, whether it's Wahlberg mistaking a dance studio for a strip club, Steve Coogan mocking the overuse of flashbacks in movies, or Michael Keaton dropping TLC references.

But at the center of it all is Ferrell. Comic actors tend to go downhill really fast. (Seen an Eddie Murphy movie lately? I hope not.) Maybe he won't find material this good again, or maybe he'll stick with big paydays from now on. Whatever happens, he and McKay have given us another gem.