History Film / TheOtherGuys

--> '''Hal:''' GET BACK HERE AND MAKE LOVE TO MY WIFE!!!

* AnalogyBackfire:
** Terry and Allen's 'Tuna vs. Lion' argument.

'''Allen:''' Okay, first off: a lion? Swimming in the ocean? Lions don't like water. If you'd placed it near a river or some sort of freshwater source, that'd make sense. But you find yourself in the ocean, twenty-foot waves, I'm assuming it's off the coast of South Africa, coming up against a full-grown, 800-pound[[note]]The Atlantic bluefin tuna actually weighs nearly ''double'' that at 1,500 lb so he's actually understated their size.[[/note]] tuna with his twenty or thirty friends? You lose that battle. You lose that battle nine times out of ten.
** Then Allen goes on to explain in length how he and his school of tuna, having acquired a taste for lion, would proceed to establish a beachhead and construct some breathing apparatus to hunt Terry's pride on land.
--->'''Allen:''' You just lost at your own game, you're outgunned and outmanned. [''beat''] [[LampshadeHanging Did that go the way you thought it was gonna go? Nope]].

* AntiHero: The titular duo are alternately crazy, violent and rude, but their goals are noble and sympathetic at least. Cheerfully deconstructed with Danson and Highsmith, whose CowboyCop antics are noted to be disproportionately destructive and whose CowboyCop attitude [[spoiler:doesn't save them from the fact that long falls from a great height with no parachute can be fatal.]]

** Subverted once. Two of the other cops convince Gamble to do a "desk pop", firing your gun at your desk. A dumb thing to do under most circumstances, even more so in a crowded police station. He gets in trouble for it.

* BenevolentBoss: Captain Gene Mauch is an overall pleasant and patient man who, more often than not, has to be the OnlySaneMan in his precinct filled with [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy gun toting manchildren]], who he is able to deal with quite skillfully. [[spoiler: And the only reason he is ever obstructive to Gamble and Hoitz is because he knows how in over their heads they are and how stupidly dangerous the investigation is.]]

* AnAesop: Just because corporations can get away with rampant greed legally doesn't make it okay. Also, being a real cop doesn't mean you get to act like a rogue CowboyCop. The real heroes are the ones who do their jobs without expectations of glory.

* ChewToy: In a way. Hoitz certainly thinks he's this, and life does dump on him a lot, but it's evident much of his misfortune is his own fault, and him being such a terrible person isn't helping things. Character development, however, does help by the end of the movie.

* HiddenDepths: Hoitz says he did a lot of mocking kids who danced in his childhood, accidentally becoming a skilled ballet dancer in the process. In reality, he just says this to try to maintain his tough guy persona because he is a good ballet dancer, plays the harp, and is well-versed in modern art. [[RealMenHateAffection He is also much more empathic than he would like to show]]. Note during the ballet scene he's inexplicably ''wearing jazz shoes.''
-->'''Gamble:''' Hey, I didn't know you can dance!\\

** Notably averted with the shooting of Derek Jeter. Then they bring it up enough to push it straight into RunningGag territory.

** Random attractive women being into Gamble ([[AvertedTrope Except Terry's girlfriend]]). So far, we had his current wife Sheila, whom Hoitz notes to be "smoking hot" and is smitten by, his ex-wife Christinith who is still [[{{Yandere}} both romantically and psychotically crazy]] for him, The Brazilian Woman, Creator/BrookeShields and at the end, Gamble says he lost his virginity to ''Creator/HeatherLocklear''.

* SoundtrackDissonance: Music/FooFighters' "My Hero" just before two "heroic" cops jump 20 stories straight into the sidewalk to their deaths.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** This is how Danson and Highsmith die early in the movie. You'd think that surely the two badass supercops played by Creator/SamuelLJackson and Creator/DwayneJohnson can survive jumping off a building, especially with epic rock music backing them up. Instead they slam into the ground and are killed instantly.
** The UnflinchingWalk doesn't work here. A single explosion leaves Gamble and Holtz knocked right back on their asses and with temporary hearing loss from the impact. Gamble even calls bullcrap on the whole "people can be unaffected by explosions two feet behind them" thing as a result.
** After convincing the Captain to put them back on the case, one of the first things he tells Hoitz and Gamble is to stop trying to act "badass", saying that just because Highsmith and Danson did it, doesn't mean that's how you should act as a cop, going as far to call the postmortem duo "terrible cops"; case in point, Highsmith and Danson's destructive high-speed chase after the weed dealers, lead to millions of dollars worth of damages in contrast to the amount of weed the dealers had on them, which would've been considered ''legal'' in several other states. Martin and Fosse's attempt the emulate the duo only cements it [[spoiler:as they were so focused on being badass that they didn't bother doing a thorough police investigation and missed evidence that implicated Wesley in Ershon's lawyer's murder.]]

* TakeUpMySword: The entire plot of the movie revolves around cops who feel that it is their time to step up and prove themselves in order to [[spoiler:replace the two heroes of the setting when they die in the line of duty]].
** Subverted in that, [[spoiler: though Hoitz and Gamble ended up becoming heroes for exposing the white collar crime that was going to bankrupt the police pension fund, they don't become the heroic replacement super cops. They stay the Other Guys, who the film makes out to be the real heroes: the guys who don't look spectacular saving the day, but do it nonetheless.]]

* TooDumbToLive: Danson and Highsmith. Badasses? Indeed. So much so, that cheating death seems to be their calling card. And so, they decide to test just how badass they are ''by jumping off of a 20-story building to chase the bad guys.'' It ends [[NotTheFallThatKillsYou just about as well as you'd expect]].
** TooCoolToLive is parodied in the same manner, and at their funeral.

* UnusualEuphemism: "Soup kitchen"
** Averted with Gamble, who still calls it a "dating service".
--->"That was no pimp... [[OverlyLongGag Pimps don't cry.]]"
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Everyone in the precinct pretty much ignores every conversation that Gamble and Hoitz have with each other. Though one person reacts when Hoitz smashes his computer to the ground.

** This is how Danson and Highsmith die early in the movie. Turns out that jumping off a building is quite frequently fatal.

''The Other Guys'' focuses on two New York City police detectives Allen Gamble and Terry Hoitz (Creator/WillFerrell and Creator/MarkWahlberg) that have been office pencil pushers for years, while the station's two top cops Highsmith and Danson (Creator/SamuelLJackson and [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson]]) garner praise from not only the NYPD but from the entire city for their cowboy, take-no-prisoners antics.

* FourOneNineScam: Among the collectors Ershon owes money there are Nigerian princes.

* AmoralAttorney: Subverted. Neither the characters nor the audience is thrilled to discover that the local SEC lawyer assigned to look over the evidence moonlights as Ershon's personal attorney, but he isn't corrupt and becomes suicidally distraught after seeing the evidence [[spoiler: and gets murdered for knowing too much]].

* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Gamble and Hoitz accepting Ershon's tickets is really close to this trope.

-->'''Wesley:''' There are three things I love in this world: Music/KylieMinogue, small dimples just above a woman's buttocks... [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and the fear in a man's eyes who knows I'm about to hurt him]].

* BatmanColdOpen: The movie starts with an epic action sequence, showing off their badassary - before it's revealed [[DecoyProtagonist they aren't the main characters of the movie]].

* BenevolentBoss: Captain Gene Mauch, he is an overall pleasant and patient man who, more often than not, and has to be the OnlySaneMan in his precinct filled with [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy gun toting menchildren]], who he is able to deal with quite skillfully. [[spoiler: And the only reason he is ever obstructive to Gamble and Hoitz is because he knows how in over their heads they are and how stupidly dangerous the investigation is.]]

* BlatantLies: Ershon is adamant that offering ten million dollars to cops for not doing their job is definitely not a bribe. Gamble [[spoiler:insists that he wasn't a pimp]].

** A very short one since it's only one scene later but after Hoitz and Gamble's bizarre encounter with Hal and Christineth they're sitting in Gamble's car discussing the case when suddenly Hal and Christeneth show up running after them for miles.

* CowboyCop: Detectives Danson and Highsmith are the standard badass version while Detective Hoitz tries to be this and drags [[ByTheBookCop Gamble]] along for the ride. It's deconstructed with Danson and Highsmith as they both [[TooDumbToLive leap to their deaths]] in pursuit of the jewel thieves, [[DisproportionateRetribution cause millions of dollars in property damage over a very small amount of marijuana]] in their EstablishingCharacterMoment[[note]]Though in their defense, the marijuana dealers were heavily armed with automatic weapons and were openly shooting at them throughout the CarChase[[/note]] and Mauch even notes that they weren't even good cops.

* DaChief: Captain Mauch, who is probably the most mellow example imaginable. It's also not his main job as he also moonlights as a manager at a Bed Bath and Beyond.

* DeconstructiveParody: Definitely leans in this direction. In particular, Danson and Highsmith are presented as beloved jerk characters for satirical effect, and they are one of many elements that lead to ConversationalTroping of cop movie tropes not fitting real life. Not to mention the message at the end to the effect of "Corrupt Corporate Executives as the real criminals".

** Danson and Highsmith jumping off a building chasing a bunch of thieves.
* DeskJockey: Gamble and Hoitz, for different reasons. Gamble is a forensic accountant, while Hoitz is stuck on desk duty after [[NoodleIncident shooting Derek Jeter]].

** Danson and Highsmith cause insane amounts of property damage in the opening scene pursuing suspects over a very small amount of marijuana, something a reporter note is only a misdemeanor offense. In their (incredibly pitiful) defense the goons were also carrying military-grade machine guns.

* DomesticAbuse: Downplayed. Allen Gamble isn't ''nasty'' per se (except for the instance when his split persona Gator takes over) just rather dismissive towards his wife who he's utterly convinced is plain. It's later revealed [[spoiler: he was deluding himself into believing this because he was afraid she'd leave him on account of thinking she's too good for him as he does.]]

* DrivesLikeCrazy: Danson and Highsmith, who plowed their car into a double-decker tour bus.

* GoodPolicingEvilPolicing: Hoitz and Gamble, for all of their bumbling and Hoitz's cavalierness, perform a thorough investigation and try to [[ByTheBookCop stick to the rules]]. In contrast--in terms of morality and competence--the CowboyCop duo of Danson and Highsmith are [[DestructiveSavior reckless in their pursuit of criminals to the point of causing property damage]] and eventually getting themselves killed, while Martin and Fosse dismiss possible leads [[GloryHound just to get a collar ASAP and make the news]]. At one point, [[DaChief Captain Mauch]] even dismisses the late Danson and Highsmith as inefficient idiots not worth remembering, let alone imitate.

* GoryDiscretionShot: [[SubvertedTrope Completely subverted]]. We get to watch Danson and Highsmith fall to their deaths, without any scene cut whatsoever, including when they hit the ground (However, it isn't actually all that gory either).

* TheHeavy: Roger Wesley is for all intents and purposes the main villain. Nominally [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Pamela Boardman]] (who hired Wesley to keep an eye on Ershon and ordered Ershon to get back 'her' money) is the BigBad but she seems entirely detached from any actual direct machinations.

* HeroInsurance: Danson and Highsmith cause enormous amounts of property damage to catch low-level drug offenders in the opening scene of the film.

* KavorkaMan: Detective Gamble is, not exactly ugly, but not conventionally attractive and is a gigantic ManChild, yet his wife and ex-girlfriend are insanely attractive and successful women.

* LittleUselessGun: Literally. Gamble's real gun is replaced by a wooden prop and then that's taken away and replaced with a rape whistle.
* LyricalDissonance: Arguably [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5JC9dTKskg those songs Allen sings in the bar]]. Hoitz lampshades by saying they're depressing.

* MuggingTheMonster: In retrospective, [[RuthlessForeignGangsters swindling European crime gangs]] to invest in a {{Ponzi}} scheme was not the best of ideas as Ershon discovered the hard way.

* DaChief: Captain Mauch, who is probably the most mellow example imaginable.

A 2010 Creator/AdamMcKay action comedy film that satirizes the {{Buddy Cop|s}} picture.

** "[[LyricalDissonance While their]] ''Literature/HarryPotter'' [[LyricalDissonance books were burned...]]"