COMEDY; 1hr 36min
STARRING: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Linda Cardellini, Thomas Haden Church, Hannibal Buress, Bobby Cannavale
Muscling in: Wahlberg (left) and Ferrell
Will Ferrell has who knows how many lovable Joe Schmoes living inside him and his latest, Brad Whitaker, is right up there. Even Brad's new wife, Sarah (Cardellini, commendably straight-faced), thinks he's "too humble." (Which he is.) Being painfully decent, Brad is straight out of his admittedly not considerable depth when Sarah's ex-husband, Dusty Mayron (Wahlberg), shows up on his badass Indian motorcycle. Sarah is horrified. Her two moppets (Scarlett Estevez and Owen Vaccaro) are ecstatic to see their dad while stepdad Brad, who has just begun to bond with them, is naturally disconcerted and wary.
Only not wary enough. Suddenly, cool hand Dusty is everywhere — ingratiating himself with Brad's blowhard boss (Haden Church), charming the socks off the smitten children and deftly messing with Brad's woolly head. In reality, such wholesale one-upmanship would be intolerable. With Ferrell, Wahlberg, director Sean Anders (Horrible Bosses 2) and their nifty supporting cast on the case, it's the same riotous marriage of opposites that romped the two stars home in The Other Guys. Even at Brad and Dusty's lowest, most pitiful and ridiculous ebb, these guys are made for each other.
