Posts Tagged ‘Will Ferrell’

Short Take: Has plenty of chuckles, but lacks any true wit

Director: Jay Roach

Screenwriters: Chris Henchy, Shawn Harwell

Cast: Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, Sarah Baker, Dylan McDermott, Jason Sudeikis, John Lithgow, Dan Aykroyd, Brian Cox

Length: 1h 25m

Synopsis: Cam Brady (Ferrell) has had three consecutive terms as the congressman of North Carolina and is running to be re-elected for a fourth. Initially running unopposed, a naïve and idealistic milquetoast named Marty Huggins (Galifianakis) throws his hat into the ring with eight weeks before votes are set to be cast. Unbeknownst to Marty, his financial backers known as the Motch Brothers (John Lithgow and Dan Aykroyd) are attempting to turn Marty into their puppet, trading his political success for signatures ratifying a plan that will effectively sell a portion of North Carolina to the Chinese. Desperate to keep his office, Cam decides to pull out all the stops and fight the dirtiest, nastiest campaign he can. With the help of a mysterious campaign manager named Mr. Wattley (McDermott) Marty is able to fight back just as hard, and before too long both candidates’ worlds spin wildly out of control. The race is neck and neck up until election night, but does either candidate deserve to win?

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Short Take: Funny and unique, yet the premise goes largely unexplored

Director: Adam McKay (Step Brothers, Anchorman)

Screenwriter: Adam McKay (Step Brothers), Chris Henchy (Land of the Lost (2009))

Cast: Will Ferrell (Step Brothers, Blades of Glory), Mark Wahlberg (The Lovely Bones), Steve Coogan (Hamlet 2), Michael Keaton (Toy Story 3)

Length: 1h 37m

Synopsis: Allen Gamble (Ferrell) and Terry Hoitz (Wahlberg) are New York City detectives who are stuck in the proverbial daily grind. Hoitz is always itching to escape the office and do some hardcore investigating, while Gamble is perfectly content with doing endless paperwork. Both partners, however, envy co-detectives Highsmith (Jackson) and Danson (Johnson), who continually create headlines and make the detective life look glamorous and movie-like. These two would-be celebrities end up meeting their maker sooner rather than later, though, which inspires Hoitz and Gamble to take more initiative and be more ambitious with their investigations. This newfound attitude steers them towards a possible grand-scale white collar crime not dissimilar to the Bernie Madoff fiasco, but because of a series of mishaps their Captain (Keaton) and even the District Attorney step in and order them to back off. Despite this order Hoitz and Gamble are unable to let go of the case, and wont stop until they’ve got their man. Read the rest of this entry »