Release Date – 8/6/2010
Terry Hoitz was on his way to the top in the New York City police department until he makes a big mistake and is doomed to a desk job. Allen Gamble is a forensics accountant who is paired up with Hoitz because he likes the safe desk job. Two of NYC’s best cops get all the fame and glory and it drives Hoitz crazy because he thinks it should be him. When a big opportunity comes up to take down a billionaire that is stealing money, Hoitz forces Gamble to get out on the street and solve the case. This movie is pretty much nonstop laughs from beginning to end. It took the buddy cop series added some Ferrell/McKay comedy and it worked really well. The funniest movie of the summer.
Mark Wahlberg plays Terry Hoitz. He’s your typical Wahlberg character, a real hard ass. He doesn’t take any shit from anyone and just wants to bust some criminals. He’s a peacock and you gotta let him fly. He can’t be confined to a desk job for his entire career. Will Ferrell is a more subdued character (for most of the film). He’s a nerdy accountant who doesn’t even get a real gun after some of the other cops talk him into firing off an “desk pop”. He’s the butt of all the other cops’ jokes but is oblivious to it. He just wants a plain life with his plain wife (Eva Mendes) because he has some demons in his past. The captain of the force is played by Michael Keaton. He gets in some great lines (constantly quoting TLC songs) but wasn’t used as much as I would have liked. Some of the funniest moments come from Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne THE ROCK Johnson as the stereotypical supercops causing millions of dollars of damage to the city and not wanting to do any of the boring paperwork. They’re seriously just over the top and hilarious. The most disappointing character was the bad guy. Steve Coogan (the director who explodes in Tropic Thunder) plays a billionaire who owes money to a lot of bad people so he sets up a Ponzi scheme in order to steal some cash. If you aren’t familiar with what a Ponzi scheme is then you could get lost in the story a bit. They try to explain it better over the credits at the end but no one is going to care by that point.
Will Ferrell and writer/director Adam McKay are best buddies so McKay really can get the best out of him. They’ve teamed up several times before from SNL and Funny or Die skits to feature films like Anchorman, Talladega Nights and Step Brothers. All of Ferrell’s best material is usually because McKay is involved. I’ve seen a few really funny movies this summer like Hot Tub Time Machine and MacGruber and this is definitely ranked up there with them. Probably in the middle of those as my #2 Comedy of the year. I wouldn’t mind if Ferrell and McKay only worked with each other for the rest of their careers. They know funny and complement each other nicely. So if you haven’t seen it yet then Creep to theaters soon. I ain’t too proud to beg.
IMDB – 7.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 79%
Movie Wiseguys – 8/10
