Even though he hasn’t appeared in many films in the 2020s, Will Ferrell is still one of the most famous and popular comedians of our time. It’s safe to say that Ferrell was at the peak of his career in the 2000s and late 2010s. During this time, the comedian starred in some of his most career-defining films. He also found his niche during this time, namely that of the immature adult who behaved like an overgrown boy. Ferrell’s formative films include Host duology, Eleven, Megamind, Stepbrothers, And Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. A film that is often left out of the discussion is The slightly different copsWritten and directed by Adam McKay.

With Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, The slightly different cops was a buddy cop comedy that parodied police movies. Although the film was a huge hit in 2010, it is now all but forgotten. That’s a shame, because it is arguably one of Ferrell’s best comedies. Ferrell is no stranger to buddy comedies, but The slightly different cops stood out by having him play against type. Moreover, there was a lot more going on behind the film’s jokes and parodies than anyone expected. While most of Ferrell’s comedies are fondly remembered for their funny, if childish, sense of humor, The slightly different cops had deeper ambitions that could only be appreciated in retrospect.

“The slightly different cops” parodied overly lenient police films

The film was more than just a parody of police films

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The slightly different cops is by no means the first comedy to parody cops. To be honest, mocking cops, both fictional and otherwise, is probably as old as film itself. It stretches back to the heyday of the Keystone Cops in the 1910s and to Axel Foley’s long-awaited return in this year’s Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, Making fun of the police, whether they get the joke or not, is practically a tradition in American films. Cop-themed comedies are so ubiquitous that The slightly different cops was actually only one of two high-profile police comedies that hit theaters in 2010. The other was Kevin Smith’s critically panned Cop outwhich was often negatively compared with The slightly different cops when the latter started with better reviews and box office numbers. What helped The slightly different cops What was striking was the way in which it took up one of Hollywood’s oldest jokes.

Instead of playing a parody of a typical heroic police officer like The Naked Cannon Frank Drebin or an exaggerated version of it like Bad Boys Mike Lowrey, The slightly different cops Two of the nameless extras were seen filling the background of the precinct. Moreover, the film made no pretense at realism. Allen and Terry were living in an action-packed cop movie, and they knew it. They pointed out how absurd their reality was, not just because they were speaking for the audience or parodying cop movies, but because they hated how unfair their world was to extras like themselves. Allen tolerated the childish bullying of his co-workers lest he relapse into his ridiculously tough “Gator” role from his youth. Despite his best intentions, Terry was constantly denied the chance to prove himself. While they were relegated to desk duty and treated condescendingly at every turn, Detectives PK Highsmith and Christopher Danson – the film’s stereotypically heroic and overly macho cops – reaped all the explosive action and glory.

These connected The slightly different boys more serious subtexts and themes. As Ice-T bluntly said just before the credits, The slightly different cops was an ode to the workers whose efforts and struggles are never recognized. While most police films, whether parody or not, revolve around an exceptional police officer, The slightly different cops shone the spotlight on the unsung heroes who cleaned up after them and kept order while the hero was busy blowing up half the city. Allen and Terry were not just avatars for viewers fed up with the silly cliches and indulgences of cop movies. They represented ordinary, everyday people who were ignored and disrespected by those who claimed to be superior to them. In a genre awash with impossible power fantasies and the glorification of arrogant hyper-individualism, The slightly different boys dysfunctional duo was an entertaining yet surprisingly relatable breath of fresh air.

Nowhere was this message clearer than in the film’s core conflict. Unlike other police films The slightly different boys The main culprits were not gangsters or crooked cops. Rather, they were amoral billionaires and callous financial firms who plotted to steal the NYPD’s pension fund. The slightly different cops is not the first police film to feature corporate executives as villains, but it was notably filmed shortly after the global financial crisis of 2007–2008. In fact, the end credits featured an animated infographic showing the astronomical amounts of money stolen by a few rich people. McKay’s anger was palpable in this otherwise silly farewell to police films. The filmmaker continued to address today’s economic inequality and social injustice in his later works, especially in the darker and more serious The big short.

The Other Guys is part of a now outdated subgenre

Parody films are practically a lost art form these days

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Besides the themes and the fact that Ferrell played an uncharacteristically reserved character who suppressed his immature impulses, it is The slightly different cops What makes it special is that it is part of a bygone era. The era of parody films. Only a decade ago, parody films dominated the comedy genre. Self-aware parodies of other films or entire trends, whose jokes are based on references, used to be regularly shown alongside blockbusters in cinemas. Given the star-studded cast and the popularity of the genre it was poking fun at, The slightly different cops was an unsurprising success in August 2010. However, if it were released today, it would be a failure. The reason for this is not the content or the quality, but the fact that the zeitgeist has changed.

As the dominance of major blockbusters (primarily superhero films) in theaters coincided with the normalization of streaming in the late 2010s, parody films and comedies retreated from the spotlight altogether. Other mid-budget genres, such as romantic comedies and adult dramas (such as the legal drama), followed suit. Soon, these types of films were restricted to direct-to-streaming releases. Case in point: Two of Ferrell’s recent comedies were available exclusively on streaming. Specifically, these were Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of the Fire Saga on Netflix and Temperamental on Apple TV+. These films were typical for Ferrell and have a lot in common with The slightly different types, but they simply came a decade too late. These explain why The slightly different cops is today something of a forgotten gem.

Even though some quotes and Highsmith and Danson’s ridiculous deaths persist in memes, the film is a relic of a bygone era. Regardless of quality, parody films are a thing of the past. Younger viewers find Ferrell’s comedy style outdated. It also doesn’t help that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep audiences interested in cinematic comedies, as such films don’t have access to platforms anyway. None of this means that The slightly different cops is bad or was never good. On the contrary, The slightly different cops Even more than a decade after its initial release, The 40th Anniversary remains a solid comedy. Even though some of the jokes have not aged well, as expected, it is still a successful parodic homage to cop fiction, into which a surprising amount of thought has been put. The slightly different cops may no longer have a place in today’s pop culture, but it remains a time capsule of the biggest trends and genres of the 2010s.

“The Other Guys” is now available to watch and purchase in physical and digital formats.

The slightly different cops

From director Adam McKay comes The Other Guys. In this action comedy, Will Ferrell plays forensic accountant Allen Gamble and Mark Wahlberg plays Detective Terry Hoitz, two NYPD officers assigned to investigate a simple permit violation before stumbling upon a major conspiracy and a thriving crime ring. Without the police force’s two best detectives, these two unlikely partners will be instrumental in stopping a criminal plot.