Directed by Adam McKay
Written by Chris Hency and Adam McKay
Starring: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Michael Keaton, Eve Mendes
Released in August, 2010
Running time I hr 47 min

I’m not a huge Will Ferrell fan although I do find him likeable. I saw Talladega Nights and found it so-so. Blades of Glory, meh. My only good Ferrell experience was in a movie where he stepped out of his usual nebbishy role (if only slightly) in Stranger Than Fiction. So I don’t really know why I went to see this film or why I kinda liked it. Blame in on the few releases found nearby in August.

PLOT: Allen Gamble (Ferrell) is a police officer who has none of the traits of his colleagues. He’s like an insurance adjustor who has wandered into the wrong office. When he partners up with Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg) he ventures out of the office and gets into the predictable trouble. There a quite a few extremely humorous bits here, including the conceit that Ferrell is irresistible to women but oblivious to it. Okay, the plot, well there isn’t much of one and that’s sort of the downer that occurs to you an hour into it. It’s a bunch of sketches that seem to be leading somewhere but don’t. Since this is the only strength of the movie, I will not discuss them here.

But there are enough good routines to wile away a few hours. Especially if you catch it for $4.75 as we did. You want elegant, important, profound French films, come back next week when I’ll have two.

Patti

Patti Abbott writes crime fiction short stories. She hosts a look at Forgotten Books every Friday with readers, writers and reviewers at http://www.pattinase.blogspot.com/ She hopes you’ll join in.