Welcome to Thunderdome

Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell star in this parody of buddy cop movies.

It starts off with a ridiculously over the top car chase involving The Rock and Samuel L. Jackson as the "super duo" cops who everyone loves. Their exit from the story is meant to be funny, and is, but at the same time, there's a stupidity factor.

In fact, the whole movie has a "this is stupid" undertone, and I think that's what really hurts it.

Wahlberg plays a "super cop" being held back because he shot someone he shouldn't have. His partner, Ferrell, was a forensics accountant and has been moved to vice to be Wahlberg's partner. Despite Wahlberg being "super cop", he's a moron socially, while Ferrell is a bad cop, he's a super stud with the ladies.

There are a pretty good batch of one liners in this film, and some decent visual gags. The story is what it is, and truthfully, might have been green lit as therapy for some folks in Hollywood over the Madoff thing. (more on that later)

There are enough laughs that if I ever saw this on late night cable, I wouldn't change the channel, but the story is weak enough that I wouldn't recommend this unless you're seeing it on Netflix, a PPV movie channel, or it's in the $1 rental bin.

But let's talk about the hidden messages in the film:

Ferrell drives a Prius, which gets mocked a LOT in the film, but at the same time is featured throughout. That sort of plug never bothers me. They're blatantly pushing a product, yet being funny and realistic about it. I respect that.

The central story of the film though is where things get really interesting. This isn't about drugs, it's about investing. That's cool right? We need more buddy cop films to be about things other than drug dealers. However, things get serious once you get to the credits.

During the credits, statistics and graphs fill the screen covering things like Ponzi schemes, the Madoff situation, and then getting more political, going into the recent bailouts, bonuses post bailouts, tax rates post bailouts, etc. It's very interesting to watch, but I'm unsure of the message. One could say it's anti-capitalist due to the Ponzi scheme stuff, but I hope the large doses of anti-government spending (bailouts) I saw were based in fiscal conservatism.

Back to the film itself, it's worth a viewing once for the laughs, but this is no classic. If you want a really good parody of buddy cop films, see Hot Fuzz. Still, this isn't a total waste of time.

5.5 out of 10.

You got your superstar cops that end up with their own movies, and then you have The Other Guys, the ones in the office doing paperwork and shit.

Mark Wahlberg and Will Farrell are those other guys, and they wind up investigating a crime that's so big that no one even believes it.

This movie actually had a few chuckles from me, which is good for a movie, these days. So maybe watch it, I don't know. I'm not your fucking mother.

You already saw and reviewed this.

Absolutely no memory. Also searched for an existing thread three different ways.

Leisher wrote: ↑Wed Jan 31, 2024 8:56 am You already saw and reviewed this.

oh man, he's getting old. Or, probably cuz he didn't have the DVD case lying around

Perhaps it's time we started discussing assisted living for him?

Kidding. I watch so many movies that I sometimes have to search for them on this site to see if I have already reviewed them.

GORDON wrote: ↑Wed Jan 31, 2024 9:48 am Also searched for an existing thread three different ways.

I searched for "Wahlberg". It was the 6th or 7th result.

Was 12 years ago. Probably never indexed since last forum reload, then it was when I bumped it.

I searched on Wahlberg, it wasn't in the list.

But I still have no memory of ever seeing it. I didn't even think the movie was that old

It's a pretty forgettable movie.

The little girl on the ride along made me lol.

It wasn't listed by title. Nothing is prior to the forum switch. It was down in the results that show written messages.

Now that it's been updated, it will be easier to find when you accidentally watch it again in another 12 years.

I can't wait to forget lord of the rings.

Leisher wrote: ↑Wed Jan 31, 2024 3:11 pm Now that it's been updated, it will be easier to find when you accidentally watch it again in another 12 years.

It'll probably happen faster next time.

I once read a book and was like.... "This sounds familiar.". And I kept going, and eventually I was like, "wait, I remember this, the towed array gets wrapped in the submarine propeller and it fucks them up."

I have no idea of WHEN I'd previously read that book, but I clearly had.

I also double bought a book once when the previous version was still in my "to be read" pile.