What's it about? Belligerent Terry (Mark Wahlberg) and mild-mannered Allen (Will Ferrell) are cops who work dull desk jobs, whilst super-cool colleagues Highsmith (Samuel L Jackson) and Danson (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson) get all the girls and excitement. But soon, Terry and Allen get the chance to prove themselves by investigating the financial activities of a super-rich CEO (Steve Coogan). Unfortunately, they don't exactly get along, meaning things go tits up very quickly.Is it any good? It's okay. It's starts off well, with some good jokes and funny situations, but peters out towards the end as it tries to tie up what little plot there is. Mostly it plays out like a loose series of sketches, some of which are very funny and fly like a peacock (Allen's back-story), whilst others fall flat and are less funny than an ass full of poison ivy (the ballet scene). Nevertheless, Ferrell and Wahlberg have enough chemistry and deliver enough one-liners to keep it chugging along amiably, with the rest of the cast (including Michael Keaton and Eva Mendes) chipping into the fun as well.
Anything else I should know? There's a rather odd credit sequence at the end which presents an indignant summary of statistics from some of the big financial institutions that contributed to the global recession. All well and good, but the film hardly treated these issues with enough seriousness to warrant tacking this on the end. Struck me as a remnant of a more satricial film about the cause of the global economic crisis, which was left behind in the production process, probably in favour of some improvised Ferrell riffs.
What does the Fonz think? Not brilliant, but worth a Friday night rental.
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