Will Ferrell: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

4. Detective Allen "Gator" Gamble - The Other Guys (2010)

The Other Guys was the first Will Ferrell movie I found difficult to get through. Both of the main characters were irritating, with Mark Wahlberg's role as the angry detective Terry Hoitz only slightly more tolerable. Like the problem with his role as Brennan, Ferrell had already found his feet by the beginning of this decade and had apparently decided all his future roles will be the same as all his older roles. It doesn't work, and in another turn as a hapless man-child, Ferrell largely disappoints. A funny guy will always have his moments, but they are increasingly spare here, with Ferrell seeming like your average man his hand at comedy. He's still got that deadpan thing going on, only with a lot less energy, providing diminishing returns in the process. As Eddie Murphy learned the hard way, a comedian with nothing more to prove is barely a comedian at all. I don't know whether Ferrell's entirely to blame for a poor performance here. It could be the script; after all, this is a film where even Samuel L. Jackson wasn't that funny, and he's funny in just about everything he's in. But in the Other Guys, being amused by Will Ferrell is a lot more effort than it has any right to be, and you'd expect so much more from an actor like this.