Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg star in one of this year’s biggest comedies, The Other Guys. If you’re a fan of over-the-top action comedies (i.e. MacGruber), this is a movie you must NOT miss. The official synopsis is so damn good, I’ll just quote it here:

NYPD Detectives Christopher Danson and P.K. Highsmith (Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson) are the baddest and most beloved cops in New York City. They don’t get tattoos – other men get tattoos of them. Two desks over and one back, sit Detectives Allen Gamble (Will Ferrell) and Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg). You’ve seen them in the background of photos of Danson and Highsmith, out of focus and eyes closed. They’re not heroes – they’re “the Other Guys.”
 
But every cop has his or her day and soon Gamble and Hoitz stumble into a seemingly innocuous case no other detective wants to touch that could turn into New York City’s biggest crime.  It’s the opportunity of their lives, but do these guys have the right stuff?

Right from the get-go you know you’re in for one hell of a ride. A LOLercoaster ride, that is. I’m trying so hard to think of what to say in this review, but words fail me. The whole movie is just packed with jokes from start to finish, and me talking about them here wouldn’t do it any justice and would probably spoil the experience for you. But I gotta say, it’s one of the best comedies I’ve seen all year. Ferrell and Wahlberg give an outstanding performance and make the best cop couple I’ve seen since Lethal Weapon’s Gibson and Glover.

Everything about the movie is spot on. It might drag a tiny little bit in the middle but after that speed bump, things pick up from where they left off and never lets down. If you like to laugh, you’re in for a treat. You’ll be walking out with a stupid grin on your face, and talking about a certain scene in the movie, which I won’t mention here. Adam McKay, you, sir, are a comedic genius. The Other Guys gets a rating of 8/10.

BTW a lot of movies don’t do this anymore, but there’s an extra scene after the credits you don’t wanna miss.

I went into the cinema not knowing what to expect. Besides the posters I’ve seen around the cinema, I knew nothing about the movie. But from the cute looking turtle on the posters, I expected it to be a movie for kids.

Sammy’s Adventures: The Secret Passage is about a young turtle, Sammy, on a journey to travel around the world, in search of love, and an adventure of a lifetime. Along the way he makes friends, learns about humans, and discovers new places.

There isn’t much to be said about the movie, at least I don’t have much to say about it. The visuals are pretty good- nothing fantastic, and the use of 3D really brought some parts to life (i.e. swimming through the coral reefs, fish and snakes moving towards the screen etc). Sometimes it was a bit too distracting though. But it was a decent attempt at bringing a story to life in 3D.

The story is nothing special. You can tell it was written for kids and will be enjoyed by kids. It would have been great if they used double entendre to make the story appealing to both kids and adults (ala Sponge Bob Square Pants), but there is none to be found here. Good, clean, safe fun. Except for the hippies. I don’t know why or if they were even essential to tell the story, but the whole chapter about the hippies by the beach seemed so out of place. I was just waiting for a hallucination scene to happen! Though sadly, it never did.

The thing that surprised me the most was the voice talent behind the movie. With the most notable performance from Kathy Griffin, even though her character didn’t play a big role in the movie. The rest of the cast sounded alright, suitable for the roles they were playing. But listen carefully for familiar voices used in the movie.

One problem I had with the movie were a couple of irregular cuts, and the use of too many contemporary songs. It made certain parts of the movie feel like some sort of montage music video. Another issue I had was that the problems the characters faced in the movie pretty much solved themselves. The characters didn’t have to do anything on their own. Despite having cute, likeable characters, the movie was very plot driven. It could have been easily replaced with other animals in a different environment, and the same story could have been told. Preaching about the environment in a kid’s movie isn’t a bad thing, but when characters do nothing to solve it, it seems like a waste of screen time.

Overall, the movie was alright. It’s not a must-watch, but I guess if you have kids or you’re a fan of turtles, SA:TSP is right up your alley. At least I didn’t come out of the cinema hating it, unlike Alpha and Omega. I’d rate this turtle movie 4/10.

When I heard that this movie was based on an older French movie, Le Diner de Cons, I did what anybody else would do- watch the original movie first. So when I was watching the Dinner for Schmucks, I had Le Diner de Cons fresh in my mind and knew what to expect. Firstly, I would like to say that it is not a complete remake of the French movie. Dinner for Schmucks uses the same premise of the original movie and takes it even further.

The movie is about Tim (played by Paul Rudd), an executive who is climbing his way up the corporate ladder. He receives an invitation to a dinner party from his boss that he can’t refuse. At this dinner party, the attendees are required to bring an “idiot” with them to dinner. The person with the biggest “idiot” wins an award and bragging rights in the company. Enter Barry (played by Steve Carell)- a talented but socially inept mouse taxidermist, who takes artistic photographs using dead mice. Tim meets Barry by chance and invites him to be his idiot guest at the dinner party. The hilarity ensues when Barry turns up a day earlier than expected.

Dinner for Schmucks improves upon the original by the inclusion of wittier dialogue- maybe jokes were lost in translation when I watched the French movie, but Dinner for Schmucks had a lot more laugh out loud moments for me. Some parts seemed a little bit forced though- like how Tim injures his back, and Barry pretending to be a movie director on the phone. They could have easily gotten away by using gags from the original movie, but I guess the writers wanted to be a little more clever. The original French movie was set in just one location, the protagonist’s house. Dinner for Schmucks has the cast going all over the place, and even has the dinner party scene which wasn’t in Le Diner de Cons. I thought this was a plus because I curious to what an “idiot dinner” would be like after watching the movie. The blind fencer towards the end might be a little too over-the-top for some people, but drew out the loudest laugh from me in the cinema.

Paul Rudd plays a pretty standard character here, I hope he hasn’t been typecasted as the guy who’s trying to do his job and please his fiancee at the same time. Steve Carell really shines in this movie. Normally I’m not too tickled by his comedies, but here he does the job of playing the idiot well. Barry seems to be a bit cleverer than the idiot in the French movie, but he’ll still have you in stitches.

I didn’t find many problems in the movie besides the couple of forced gags that didn’t really hit the mark. Watch it if you’re- up for a comedy in similar vein of Meet the Parents, a fan of Rudd or Carell, just up for an hour of laughter. Dinner for Schmucks- 6/10.