The Other Guys (2010) 
 
 Is it possible to run a bait-and-switch scam in reverse? I can’t think of another way to describe the odd trick pulled off by “The Other Guys,” a new goofballs-and-fireballs comedy directed by Adam McKay . The closing credit sequence is, in effect, a tease for a movie quite different from the one that has just concluded. 
 
 Bold, brightly colored charts and graphs fill the screen with enraging data about bloated chief-executive bonuses, billion-dollar bank bailouts, Ponzi schemes and other entries in the encyclopedia of modern financial infamy. Looking at these shocking numbers in isolation, you might be tempted to think that you had just watched an angry populist satire skewering the powerful and the privileged. But such topical provocation has been missing from commercial American comedy for a very long time, and “The Other Guys” is no exception. Its plot does feature a devious equity-fund manager (played by the reliable British weasel-for-hire Steve Coogan) and a Wall Street vixen, but the plot is neither the movie’s point nor its most memorable feature. 
 
 Instead, Mr. McKay plays to his strengths and those of his frequent collaborator and the movie’s star, Will Ferrell. In other words, “The Other Guys” is most authentically itself when it indulges in a free-form but nonetheless highly disciplined silliness that has the effect of dissolving, rather than piquing, whatever worldly anger or frustration you may be harboring. Once again, and for the first time in a while, Mr. Ferrell uses his big body, his quick mind and his infinitely fungible voice to yoke disparate and ridiculous traits into a brand new and yet instantly archetypal comic character. 
 
 Allen Gamble, Mr. Ferrell’s mild-mannered, desk-bound police detective, lacks the pompous aggression of Ron Burgundy in “Anchorman,” the aw-shucks aggression of Ricky Bobby in “Talladega Nights” or the infantile aggression of Brennan Huff in “Step Brothers” (all directed by Mr. McKay). Instead, he is aggressively, ostentatiously, explosively passive — a combustible milquetoast. Gamble is timid, gullible, irresistible to gorgeous women and yet oblivious to their interest. He makes no sense at all, except in the absurd context of the movie’s craziest moments. 
 
 Gamble’s foil is Terry Hoitz, an unlucky detective played by Mark Wahlberg, who looks like an inflamed bantam rooster next to Mr. Ferrell’s timorous ostrich. Actually, the two of them supply a more vivid — if less comprehensible — zoological metaphor in the film’s funniest scene, a rhetorical sparring match in which lions battle tunas for animal-kingdom supremacy. 
 
 When it operates in this nonsensical zone of verbal riffing and broad slapstick (the most inspired example of which is a brawl at a funeral conducted in respectful whispers), “The Other Guys” provides some pretty good laughs. Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson make fun of their action-hero personae and then step aside to let Mr. Ferrell and Mr. Wahlberg do their thing. Those two are gracious enough to cede a little room to Michael Keaton, as the leathery precinct captain, and to Rob Riggle and Damon Wayans Jr., as Gamble and Hoitz’s obnoxious squad room rivals. ||||| A desk-jockey detective and his tough-talking partner get their moment to shine in this buddy police comedy starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, and directed by Adam McKay (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby). New York City detective Allen Gamble (Ferrell) is more comfortable pushing pencils than busting bad guys. A meticulous forensic accountant, his numbers are never off. Detective Terry Hoitz (Wahlberg) is Gamble's reluctant partner. Try as Detective Hoitz might to get back on the streets, an embarrassing encounter with Derek Jeter has left a sizable black mark on his permanent record. Detectives Danson (Dwayne Johnson) and Highsmith (Samuel L. Jackson) are the complete opposites of Gamble and Hoitz: unwaveringly confident, they always get their man, and they do it with style to spare. When the time comes for Gamble and Hoitz to prove their mettle and save the day, their incompetence becomes the stuff of legend. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi ||||| Will Forte brings Saturday Night Live's clueless soldier of fortune to the big screen in the action-comedy MacGruber. Greg Peters/Rogue 
 
 MacGruber 
 
 (out of 4) 
 
 Starring Will Forte, Kristen Wiig and Val Kilmer. Directed by Jorma Taccone. 99 minutes. At major theatres. 18A 
 
 If MacGruber the movie has anything in common with “MacGruber” the Saturday Night Live sketch, it is this: It, too, is a one-note joke assembled from familiar, mundane bits and pieces. 
 
 And it, too, inevitably explodes in your face. 
 
 If it bears any resemblance to its true satirical source, the '80s action adventure series MacGyver, it is only in the much broader sense that it is intended as a spoof of that entire genre. 
 
 Even extrapolated to that extent, the movie plays exactly like the overlong SNL bit it is. It is infinitely better suited to the small-screen short form, which is where its first-time film director, Jorma Taccone, who made his comedy bones as one third of Lonely Island, Andy Samberg's digital video comedy troupe (the final member being Akiva Schaffer). 
 
 Otherwise, it pretty much depends on how you feel about genital humour. And the sight of Will Forte's naked butt. 
 
 The movie rarely gets very far above the waist. Which for its intended, predominantly young male audience, is usually more than sufficient for at least one good opening weekend. 
 
 As for the rest of us, rest assured that it is another one of those flicks where anything worth laughing at is contained in the commercials. 
 
 It is, appropriately enough, a jury-rigged patchwork creation, made up of lame repetitive gags and a lot of stuff we've seen done before and better in other movies, particularly Zoolander, Austin Powers and Hot Shots! Part Deux. 
 
 But then, bitter experience has taught us not to expect much from a Saturday Night spinoff. Sure, there was The Blues Brothers, and to a lesser extent the first Wayne's World, and maybe half of A Night at the Roxbury (I know I am essentially alone on that last one, but I'm willing to humiliate myself in the interest of full disclosure). 
 
 Almost everything else has, let's face it, hovered somewhere in the vicinity of the universally ridiculed It's Pat. 
 
 We are supposed to be laughing with these things, not at them. When will the SNL actors realize that they fare infinitely better in non-SNL roles than they ever do by staying in-house. MacGruber co-star Kristin Wiig is already there. 
 
 But MacGruber himself, the very talented Will Forte, may have pre-emptively shot his career in the foot. 
 
 Or rather, blown it off. 
 
 Now, The Falconer, there's an SNL movie I could totally get behind. Really, just about any other Forte character, from his tenuous politician Tim Calhoun to his uproariously clueless colour commentator, Greg Stink. 
 
 Hmm. Stink: The Movie. Oh wait; that's already been made. ||||| NEW YORK (AP) — In the annals of film festival flops — from unexpected boos to red-carpet gaffes — the premiere of the Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart comedy "Get Hard" will go down as a doozy. 
 
 In this image released by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Kevin Hart, right, and Will Ferrell appear in a scene from "Get Hard." (AP Photo/Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Patti Perret) (Associated Press) 
 
 In this image released by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Kevin Hart, top, and Will Ferrell appear in a scene from "Get Hard." (AP Photo/Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Patti Perret) (Associated Press) 
 
 After the film premiered last week at the South By Southwest Film Festival, during a Q&A with director Ethan Cohen, an audience member voiced not so much a question as a harsh judgment. "This film seems racist," he said, using an expletive. Another audience member also asked if the film, about a hedge fund manager (Ferrell) who witlessly hires a law-abiding acquaintance (Hart) to prepare him for maximum security prison after being sentenced for fraud, was perpetuating stereotypes. 
 
 That sound you might have heard emanating from Austin was the loud cursing of marketing executives for the film, which opens Friday. 
 
 Though film festival Q&As are often filled with questionable observations, these atypically blunt rebukes received outsized attention, drawing headlines from The Los Angeles Times and others. The damage continued with early reviews that also questioned the movie's handling of homosexuality in various scenes. 
 
 Much of the film's comedy rests on the Ferrell character's fears of being raped in prison, and among his preparations is an attempt to have oral sex with a gay man in a bathroom stall. A critic for The Guardian wrote that future viewers "will be astonished that such a negative portrayal of homosexuality persisted in the mainstream in 2015." Variety wrote that the film was "undone by some of the ugliest gay-panic humor to befoul a studio release in recent memory." 
 
 After initially seeking to avoid the controversy (Cohen, Ferrell and Hart cancelled interviews with The Associated Press before Ferrell and Hart rescheduled them), the film's stars and producers are vigorously defending their comedy as not a representation of stereotypes but a satire of them. 
 
 "Any time you're going to do an R-rated comedy, you're going to offend someone," said Ferrell in an interview alongside Hart. He continued: "But that's kind of what we do. We provoke. We prod. We also show a mirror to what's already existing out there. We're playing fictitious characters who are articulating some of the attitudes and misconceptions that already exist." 
 
 "Get Hard" was written by Cohen along with Jay Martel and Ian Roberts, writing-producers from the sketch comedy show "Key and Peele." This is Cohen's directorial debut after penning screenplays to films like "Idiocracy" and "Tropic Thunder," a film that memorably flirted with racially sensitive territory in Robert Downey Jr.'s lampoon, in black face, of a Method actor run amok. 
 
 In many ways, the comedy of "Get Hard" works similarly. Just as the humor of Downey's actor wasn't in his favor but about his own self-obsessive, racist delusions, Ferrell's character is a parody of the narrow perspective of the elitist one percent. He hires Hart's carwash owner and family man under the mistaken presumption that he's been to prison, that he's "hard." 
 
 "You're looking at two characters that judged each other by their cover," said Hart. "And after peeling off some of the layers to their onion, they realize that, 'Oh my God, this isn't the person I thought it was from the jump. It's a completely different person.' And that road to friendship ensues." 
 
 "Get Hard" was conceived as a way to pair Hart and Ferrell, two of the most popular and bankable stars in comedy. Whether the film succeeds on its own terms or not, it's an attempt (one generally uncommon in wide-release studio films) to comment on contemporary issues of inequality and race within the context of a broad, often crude comedy. 
 
 Adam McKay, Ferrell's longtime collaborator and a producer of "Get Hard," said any backlash has been overinflated by "lazy journalism." 
 
 "Given that we're a country with runaway income inequality, more people in jail than any other country, this is what people are crowing about? Trying to in a funny way deal with these issues?" said McKay in a phone interview with fellow producer Chris Henchy. "It really kind of got me mad. It's just cheap is what it is." 
 
 McKay said the film was fashioned as "a silly, filthy comedy" on the outside, but a satire of income inequality underneath. Seeing the film as racist, he says, is "kind of ridiculous and disheartening," since its intention is to parody those who live in bubbles of wealth and prejudice. To claims of homophobia he protested: "Any individual going to maximum security prison would be afraid of violence and sexual assault. To equate that with homosexuality is ridiculous." 
 
 Others have agreed, albeit more skeptically. In reviewing the movie for Vanity Fair, Eric D. Snider wrote that the film wasn't offensive to him as a homosexual; it's just not funny enough. 
 
 "It's not mean-spirited, and it's panicky straight guys, not gays, who are the target," wrote Snider. "It's just disappointing, that's all." 
 
 Any bad buzz for "Get Hard" has likely been partially alleviated by the goodwill both Ferrell and Hart have in storage, as well as the distraction of Ferrell's dependably entertaining late-night appearances. The NAACP and GLAAD have not commented on the film. 
 
 "Here's the beautiful thing about Will and myself: You're looking at two guys that are no strangers to criticism," said Hart. "The critic's job is to critique. I don't think I've ever had a great review on a film that I've done. Not one. Everybody always has had something to say. And if they're not talking, then you have a problem." 
 
 Whether the talking around "Get Hard" will affect it at the box office remains to be seen. 
 
 "People will go see it and there probably will be some people who are offended. It's definitely a very dirty movie and it's harsh," says McKay. "It's a good-hearted movie at its root. Everything comes out in the wash with movies because they hang around for, like 78 years. You always end up seeing what a movie really is in the long run." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Lennox reported from Los Angeles. ||||| As 1995 slouches into 1996, winter holds Montreal in an unrelenting grip. Adding to the chill are a series of unsolved rapes and murders occurring in the west-end neighbourhood of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, all of which, it seems, have been perpetrated by the same man. That’s the set-up for Jacob Tierney’s third feature, using a self-penned screenplay adapted from Chrystine Brouillet’s novel Chère Voisine. The action revolves around three tenants of a run-down apartment: a cat-obsessed waitress (Emily Hampshire) working in a Chinese restaurant that never seems to have any customers, a wheelchair-bound widower (Scott Speedman) whose suite is filled with aquariums, and an emotionally needy, newly arrived elementary-school teacher (Jay Baruchel). Tierney, who scored big at TIFF last year with The Trotsky, garners great (and not a little creepy) turns from each of his leads to concoct a twisty tale that’s part-mystery, part-psychological thriller, part-comedy. His assured mise-en-scène echoes Polanski’s The Tenant and Boyle’s Shallow Grave. J.A. 
 
 Sept. 18, 12:45 p.m., AMC 6 
 
 Trigger 
 
 Bruce McDonald (Canada) 
 
 3 STARS 
 
 Sometimes an on-screen pairing just clicks. Though filled with recognizable faces – Sarah Polley, Don McKellar, Callum Keith Rennie, Caroline Gillis – Trigger leans almost entirely on its leading ladies, Molly Parker and the late Tracy Wright. They play reunited rocker chicks who have taken widely divergent paths in life and are wrangling demons born of a youth spent with sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. Looking gaunt, Wright is splendid as Vic, the sharp and sarcastic half of the duo wasted by a taste for heroin. Parker is a charming and convincing foil as the cheerier Kat, now a well-paid TV executive still battling demons of her own. Trigger was rushed into production after Wright was diagnosed with cancer, but it doesn’t feel that way. Shot simply but compellingly, it feels like a polished and practised portrait of rekindled bonds. J.B. 
 
 Sept. 18, 12:45 p.m., Scotiabank 2 
 
 Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries) 
 
 Kiran Rao (India) 
 
 3 STARS 
 
 Move over Bollywood, because India is going indie. More precisely, it's showing some early signs of returning to the auteur-driven sensibilities of a director like Satyajit Ray. Here, making her feature debut, Kiran Rao takes us to teeming Mumbai in the monsoon season, then glides fluidly through the urban strata embodied in her three principal characters – an affluent Indian-American woman with photographic ambitions; a dour artist with a troubled marital past; and a hunky laundry boy (a dhobi) keen to climb out of the slums and into the movies. Perched on their different rungs, each is looking up or down the social ladder and doing the same thing but from different motives: peering, either curiously or enviously, into the lives of others. As they do, the film means to be the cinematic answer to Suketu Mehta's book, Maximum City – that is, it wants to draw a vibrant portrait of Mumbai in all its cruel beauty. Wants to, and almost succeeds. R.G. 
 
 Sept. 18, 12 p.m., Bell Lightbox 1 
 
 Stone 
 
 John Curran (USA) 
 
 3 STARS 
 
 Does sin come naturally to human beings? That, and how to look to be forgiven for it, is at the heart of Stone, especially where crimes that never reach a courtroom are concerned. Edward Norton steals the show as Gerald (Stone) Creeson, a convict of eight years looking for freedom through his parole officer, Jack Mabry (Robert De Niro). Norton is thoughtful and clever, but reptilian and rough. As Mabry, De Niro grapples ably with his own demons, entangled with the efforts of Lucetta Creeson (Milla Jovovich), a seductive manipulator trying to spring her husband. This film isn’t without flaws: For example, its religious overtones, framed by the devout rituals of Jack’s wife Madylyn and squawked out over Christian radio, don’t quite strike the right chord. But it’s worth the price of admission to see Norton and De Niro sparring across a prison-house desk. J.B.
– Despite a few reviewers who think it’s basically an extended Saturday Night Live sketch, The Other Guys snagged a high score on the Tomatometer—and some are calling the Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg cop comedy the funniest movie of 2010: If you’re tired of Ferrell's typical “clueless blowhard,” never fear: director Adam McKay “shrewdly varies the formula," making Ferrell the “square” and Wahlberg the “aspiring alpha dog,” writes Joe Williams in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “The Other Guys is the funniest movie of the year.” Ferrell and McKay "have collaborated on three other movies, but they've never been so slyly funny as they are in The Other Guys, a buddy-cop satire so hilarious that even longtime Ferrell haters (me) can't resist it,” admits Connie Ogle in the Miami Herald. “The humor is that rare perfect balance of broad and satiric.” Fun cameos include “Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson in a hilarious send-up of badass cops,” and Michael Keaton, who nearly steals the show “as an emasculated police captain moonlighting as a retail store manager,” writes Joshua Katzman in the Chicago Reader. Rather than a full-length film, “the movie’s best bits would stand alone nicely on YouTube, or on Funnyordie.com, the comic video boutique of which Mr. McKay is an owner and where he sometimes dabbles in short-form hilarity,” writes AO Scott in the New York Times.