On paper, it's a great movie. And the previews do nothing to dispel that idea. Wahlberg is a perfect short-tempered cop (remember his turn in The Departed?) and Ferrell can play a by-the-book innocent (see Stranger Than Fiction) as a seemingly ideal foil. The great fun in the previews is our sense of recognition; when the cops encounter an explosion, they're not running away from it, jaws clenched and unflinching. Instead they're thrown back, and they writhe around on the ground complaining about blood blisters and soft tissue damage. The two hotshot cops in the movie (Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson), in an insane chase scene, are called to account for incurring $12 million in damages on a misdemeanor arrest.
Given the previews, what I expected was an unconventional buddy comedy stemming from the disparity between action movie cliches and how an action movie would play out in real life, with unmistakably mortal heroes, even schlubs.
That wasn't exactly what I got.
