2 Guns does buddy cop right, but fails in nearly every other way

The way the business of films is covered in the media and on the internet these days, it is rare that I get an invitation to screen a flick that I know next to nothing about. It is something I wish would happen more often: not knowing what actor is going to show up next, or how much of the story was completely spoiled by the trailers makes watching a new story so much more enjoyable … as long as the story is worth watching. And so it was with my screening of Baltasar Kormákur’s latest flick, 2 Guns.

The flick stars Denzel Washington (the only thing I knew going in) and Mark Wahlberg as two partners-in-crime … or a pair of undercover agents who each believes they are working with a real criminal. (Don’t get me started on Wahlberg’s character’s backstory; I’m not sure they could have been more technically inconsistent if they tried.) The rest of the cast is surprisingly solid on paper: Edward James Olmos plays a the leader of a drug cartel the duo are trying to take down, Paula Patton is Denzel’s control officer while James Marsden is Wahlberg’s boss and Bill Paxton rounds out the cast as mysterious character whose bad side the duo quickly find themselves on.

When the flick is about Denzel and Wahlberg riding in a car or sitting across from each other at a diner table, busting each other’s chops, it excels. The two have a great chemistry, and play off of each other very well. Wahlberg is particularly funny, playing his character just enough over-the-top without going overboard (think Mel Gibson in the Lethal Weapon flicks minus the crazy). Denzel, however, is playing a character who’s playing an undercover role that’s basically half of his IMDB page … but since he’s so good at playing it, it is easily forgiven.

Unfortunately, there’s more to the movie than the two of them arguing. 2 Guns is based on a comic book I’m not familiar with, so I can’t say how directly lifted from the page the plot is, but it is horrible. It is like the writer indiscriminately decided to reveal certain information about the story at random times, because keeping the audience in the dark makes your movie look smarter. (Hint: Smart films that do this are smart, dumb films that do this are still dumb and now annoying to boot.) The worst part is that the vast majority of reveals are incredibly obvious; in particular the secret connection between two characters is easily sussed out. Also, I couldn’t tell if Paxton’s character’s story was supposed to be a big reveal or not; he says something during his first appearance on screen that made it clear who he was, but when it was revealed later in the flick, everyone in the theatre I was in reacted.

As much as the plot irritated (read: pissed me off), I can’t say I walked out of movie completely having disliked it. As I said, I could have watched a whole movie that was the two leads sitting in a car on a stakeout; the schtick they have playing off of each other is just that fun. Paula Patton also impressed; she played a scene opposite Washington’s character while speaking on the phone that was particularly well performed. I also enjoy an adult comedy, one that’s not afraid to amp up the violence while not making things so serious. It isn’t everyday you can laugh at chickens being shot with handguns, but Wahlberg’s undercover persona’s “panache” somehow makes it work.

I’d hoped that after seeing 2 Guns, I would be feel the need to immediately check out the source material (as much as a film like Wanted is derided, I enjoyed it and the books it was based on). Sadly, the problems I had with the flick’s story — and that the most enjoyable part was the leads’ acting — leads me to believe that as “meh” as I was about the flick, I’d like the books even less.