You may be aware that I have a soft spot for Will Ferrell, but “The Other Guys” really does feel like his best mainstream comedy since “Anchorman.” After the screening, I heard one of the other critics say, “This is the first time I’ve ever seen Will Ferrell actually be funny!” Obviously, this gentleman and I have little common ground on which to form a friendship, but I am glad Ferrell’s charms finally got to him.
The other wide release is “Step Up 3-D,” about people who dance in three dimensions. There was a press screening, but it was at the same time as The Other Guys,” which is the same as there not being a screening at all. (That’s how it was in Portland, anyway, where the two studios in question are handled by two different publicists who have no incentive to cooperate with each other. In markets where the same agency happens to handle both studios, I suspect the screenings did not conflict.)
In limited release, you’ll find “The Disappearance of Alice Creed” (review at Cinematical), a reasonably solid thriller about a kidnapping, etc.
This week at Cinematical I wrote about MGM getting desperate with “The Outer Limits” and Disney getting flaky with “Beauty and the Beast” in 3D. Be sure to read the comments on that second one, especially.
At Film.com, “What’s the Big Deal?” was about “The Third Man,” and “Eric’s Bad Movies” addressed “976-EVIL,” a horror movie about a malevolent phone number.
And, for some reason, I imagined a conversation between Nicolas Cage and his agent.
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