The Other Guys – Blu-ray Disc Review

November 30, 2010 – 4:20 pm - Posted by: Justin Sluss

Tags: Adam McKay, BD-Live, Chris Henchy, Damon Wayans Jr., Digital Copy, Dwayne Johnson, Eva Mendes, Ice T, Mark Wahlberg, Michael Keaton, movieIQ, Ray Stevenson, Rob Riggle, Samuel L. Jackson, Sony, Steve Coogan, Will Ferrell

has an average rating of 6.8 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
are ALL HD, hilarious & pretty lengthy
– &
– 2010
– 107 & 116 minutes
– Sony
–
This uses 45.2GB total.
Street Date: December 14th, 2010

Overall Verdict – A Recommended Laugh

Buy the standard Blu-ray for $12.99 @ Amazon.com
Buy the 2-Disc Combo for $24.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Justin Sluss —

Trailer:

The Movie Itself was directed by Adam McKay, known for his previous films “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” from 2004, “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” from 2006, and “Step Brothers” from 2008 — all of which starred funnyman Will Ferrell. McKay and Ferrell re-team here for yet another hilarious comedy. The film is basically your typical “buddy cop” film except instead of it revolving around two “bad ass” cops, it revolves around two screw-ups — “The Other Guys” — hence the title. In fact, the film starts up focusing on two “bad ass” cops played by Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson that are the pride of the NYPD. They are the guys who get all the glory and manage to chalk up a total of at least 10 million dollars in damage during their pursuits. The guys stuck with doing their paperwork, you guessed it, “The Other Guys” — well specifically it’s “Detective Allen Gamble” (played by Will Ferrell) who volunteers to do it. Gamble and his partner “Detective Terry Hoitz” (played by Mark Wahlberg) are pretty much the “laughing stock” of the NYPD, unlike the two heroes we’re introduced to in the opening of the film.

Our main characters (“The Other Guys”) are the type stuck at their desks doing paperwork. Ferrell’s character is this nerdy CPA (certified public accountant) turned police officer that is happy doing the desk job, whereas Wahlberg’s character is this former bad ass that managed to turn screw up on a bad day when he was working a Yankee game during the World Series. Long story short, Hoitz (Wahlberg’s character) is forced to remain partners with a dorky guy he totally despises and doesn’t get to go work normal police work like he’s accustomed to. After all, as Hoitz says “ I’m like a peacock, you gotta let me fly!“, which is true as they just are keeping him locked up pushing the pen, so he eventually snaps once the opportunity arises to take on a case. He takes his partner forcefully (at gunpoint) with him to try to beat the other cops to the scene of a crime. As you can expect this doesn’t turn out as he’d expect and is full of laughs.

Despite Detective Hoitz’s desire to want to catch typical criminals or work typical crimes, it soon becomes apparent to our partners that they have the chance to actually bust a criminal — a “white collar” criminal that Detective Gamble believes has forgot to pay some fee or tax of some sort. The two manage to actually find the man, a mister “David Ershon” (played by Steve Coogan). This is only the beginning for our two screw up detectives as they actually may be onto something here. Joining the cast here you have Michael Keaton as their captain, their co-workers (fellow officers) played by Rob Riggle and Damon Wayans Jr. as well as the lovely Eva Mendes playing one of the guys’ wife — I will not say who’s though, to avoid a spoiler.

Now honestly, and obviously I guess based on the IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes ratings, critic reviews and whatnot, this is not as funny of a film as Adam McKay and Will Ferrell‘s previous efforts like “Anchorman” but it fucking IS downright hilarious for a majority of the film. Fans of their previous films I think will enjoy this, just maybe not as much as the others — as was the case for me personally. One of the funniest aspects I think of this film to me was the police captain character that Michael Keaton plays here who works a sidejob at Bed, Bath & Beyond. The scenes involving that are just hilarious and are thankfully expanded upon in the bonus materials.

I think also this scores in the genre of “buddy cop” films as well as a film with a tiny hidden agenda (message) to it about “white collar” crime — that is really played out extremely well in the film’s closing credits. In fact, I TOTALLY suggest you watch that credit sequence and not just for the hidden scene at the end type reason you’d expect, it’s actually a very informative closing title sequence that accompanies the actual credits to the film with facts about white collar crime in America.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 2.40:1 aspect ratio. According to the technical specifications for the aspect ratio on this over at IMDb this was shot on Super 35mm film using Panavision cameras (as well as lenses). As mentioned, this comes from a Super 35mm film source and I’m happy to report that it still has a good amount of visible film grain which means that DNR (digital noise reduction) was not used, at least in excess. The transfer from Super 35mm also holds a good amount of detail, especially in close-ups. The black level here is solid throughout, fleshtones are accurate and the color palette can be a bit vibrant at times — given the New York City setting as well as wardrobe and such. There’s no real complaints here visually, no compression, nada, just an impressive Hi-Def visual presentation worthy of a “4.5 Star Rating” for overall video quality.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. First thing, I gotta say this film has some excellent song choices on the soundtrack as well as nice original music that makes up the score. The film starts out with the opening narration (done by Ice T) which is delivered, just as the case with dialogue, very distinctly through primarily the front center channel speaker. The action during the opening car chase has lots of excellent use of the 5.1 soundscape and fidelity via a lossless codec, as does the Wyclef Jean song playing. During this action of the car chase you’ll be treated to a whole lot of LFE (bass) and great use of the rear channels and such. The sound effects in this film just sound excellent, I gotta really say that as well. In fact, during this said scene (the intro car chase) the sound effects of the engines, the tires squealing, the gunshots and all sound totally realistic. Another great example of the realism of the sound effects can be found when Will Ferrell’s character does his first “desk pop” — this actually left my dogs barking as a result on a second viewing at a louder volume. Now once the action has faded out for a bit after the into things do obviously get a lot more subtle and rely on mostly the dialogue back and forth between Wahlberg and Ferrell. During scenes in the office at the police station you’ll also hear some background noises like typing as well as chatter that make some good use of the the 5.1 soundscape as well (obviously in the rear channels).

This really has an excellent audio presentation to it that totally sets the vibe perfectly of the film as well as does it justice. Overall this earns a “4.5 Star Rating” for audio quality. Fans will be pleased with the sound here.

Bonus Materials are ALL presented in Hi-Def (HD) video quality with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound — unless otherwise noted below.

• BD-Live is included on this Sony Blu-ray Disc release in the traditional “portal” form to the studio and their content such as trailers and sometimes exclusive title-related bonus content and also in the form of movieIQ which runs as you watch the film giving you facts. This (BD-Live) does require the user to be on a “Profile 2.0” capable Blu-ray Disc Player with Internet connectivity.
• “The Mom-mentary UNRATED version” is an audio commentary by the mothers of director Adam McKay, star/writer/producer Will Ferrell, and co-writer Chris Henchy. This proves to be rather funny actually as the mothers discuss their sons and their success and their silly lines in the film.
• “Line-O-Rama” (8:56 – HD) is here, which has become “the norm” for films by Adam McKay. This proves to be absolutely hilarious with the improv lines.
• “Gag Reel” (6:17 – HD) is also quite hilarious.
• “Additional Deleted & Extended Scenes” (30:24 – HD) are very funny and run pretty lengthy. Fans of the film will love this, as it adds even more than the UNRATED version does.
• “Flash Forwards” (1:45 – HD) shows sequences flash forwarded to later in time after they happen in the film. This proves to be rather amusing and includes a cameo by Paris Hilton.
• “Alternate Action” (2:42 – HD) includes more action scenes with Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson.
• “Wasn’t That???” (15:00 – HD) discusses all the co-stars and cameos in the film.
• “Crash and Burn!” (10:06 – HD) talks about the stunts, special effects and such that are involved in the film’s action scenes.
• “Why Are There Brits On This Movie?” (6:41 – HD) is a great, it features interviews of Adam McKay and Steve Coogan talking quite a tremendous amount of shit about one another — but keep in mind this is fake, it’s a joke after all.
• “Rob Riggle Like To Party” (2:32 – HD) is self-explanatory by its title.
• “We Shouldn’t Kiss A Chicken” (1:16 – HD) is just weird, nough said.
• “Mark Wahlberg’s Eating Contest Entourage” (3:33 – HD) is fun stuff, including Wahlberg building up his real-life friend who he claims can eat anything.
• “Bed Bath And Way Beyond” (4:06 – HD) has more of Michael Keaton‘s character at his other job.
• “Lendl Global Commercial” (0:39 – HD)
• “Extreme Close Up” (5:17 – HD)
• “Pimps Don’t Cry Music Video” (3:50 – HD) featuring Eva Mendes.
• “Everyone Hates The DVD Guy” (4:47 – HD)
• PlayStation 3 Theme (Wallpaper) is included for those of you on a PS3.
• Digital Copy and a Standard Definition version of the film are both are included on a DVD ONLY with the “2-Disc Combo” pack.

Overall, the bonus materials are pretty damn worthwhile, in the sense that they are downright hilarious at times — like the film. Also, there’s not just quality here, there’s quantity as you get over 100 minutes of supplemental material (just as the back of the box claims). Plus, ONLY ON the “2-Disc Combo” there’s a DVD of the film in Standard Definition as well as Digital Copy of the film. The silly stuff like the audio commentary done by the mothers of Adam McKay, Will Ferrell and Chris Henchy is fun one time around but doesn’t really hold much replay value — unless you’re one of those mothers or related to them. There’s also a little added bonus Sony has thrown in for those who own their Sony PlayStation 3 console / Blu-ray Disc Player — that being a PS3 Theme featuring the film’s artwork as the wallpaper.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

or

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Be PATIENT with the loading times, as you should keep in mind that these files are (on average) at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

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