The Other Guys, Cop Comedy Pokes Fun at The Departed

Columbia Pictures takes #1 at the box office snagging $35.6 million with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as unlikely heroes of buddy cops picture

By Robin Rowe

Perfect wife Eva Mendes and bookish cop Will Ferrell in Columbia Pictures comedy The Other Guys

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 8/8/2010 – “What people don’t know about me is that I will do anything for a laugh,” says The Other Guys star Eva Mendes, who plays the role of perfect wife to bookish cop Will Ferrell. “Sheila’s a doctor and the all-around perfect wife.” The Other Guys star Will Ferrell says, “The joke is that no one can believe that this guy has a wife as beautiful as Eva Mendes.” In the film, Ferrell is oblivious to how beautiful his wife is and that other attractive women are hitting on him.

Cop comedy The Other Guys makes Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg unlikely partners. “My character is obsessed with what he thinks is real crime…drug dealers, vice, murderers, and anything that’s going on in the street,” says The Other Guys star Mark Wahlberg. “Will’s character’s whole attitude and approach tos police work is paperwork. That’s all it basically comes down to, paperwork and white collar crime. But I’m stuck with him because of a mistake that I made.”

Ferrell says that he and director Adam McKay are big fans of Mark Wahlberg, from his work in The Departed, a dark detective story about the Massachusetts State Police and the Irish mafia. “We always thought he would be great in a comedy, playing a character that maybe is similar in some ways to the role he had in The Departed, but to utilize that intensity he has and play it for laughs.” Director Adam McKay became Ferrell’s creative and producing partner after the two met on Saturday Night Live in 1995.

Wahlberg was nominated for an Oscar for his 2006 performance in The Departed. For those looking for another dark detective film from Wahlberg, he’s executive producer for Sharky’s Machine, based on the book by William Diehl that was made into the 1981 Burt Reynolds film. Slated for 2012, Sharky’s Machine has screenwriter Dave Miro, who wrote The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Prince of Persia.

Joining The Other Guys in a supporting role is Michael Keaton as a precinct captain who works two jobs to make ends meet and loves for his second job working in housewares at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson are co-workers, brilliant detectives with an unfortunate tendency to cause a lot of property damage making small-time busts.

The Other Guys shot in New York City. “We were so lucky to get to shoot in New York and to get to show off all the different locations in the city, from Wall Street to Rockefeller Center,” says Ferrell. “Almost every part of the city you can think of, we put on film. On top of that, we had a full second unit going the whole time, doing scene work with car crashes and guns a-blazing.”

With a 35.6 million opening, The Other Guys dethroned Inception at the box office this weekend.

The Other Guys

• Running Time: 1 hr. 47 min.
• Release Date: August 6th, 2010 (wide)
• MPAA Rating: PG-13 for crude and sexual content, language, violence, and some drug material.
• Distributor: Sony Pictures Entertainment