Culturebox: Adam McKay, Cineaste

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culturebox Adam McKay, Cineaste What The Other Guys director learned from Luis Bunuel and John Cassavetes. By Jessica Winter Posted Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010, at 4:20 PM ET Adam McKay is a co-founder of the star-making improv group Upright Citizens Brigade, the co-creator of the inescapable video site Funny or Die, and the guy who hired Tina Fey for Saturday Night Live. Thus his credentials as a prime mover of mainstream American comedy--including a strong '90s run as head writer at SNL and the immortal Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)--will survive The Other Guys, a buddy-cop misfire starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as poorly matched desk jockeys. (It's notably the first of McKay's four features to lack a Ferrell writing credit; perhaps the actor is to McKay what Owen Wilson was to Wes Anderson.) Though it's overstuffed and undercooked, The Other Guys does have some choice moments of McKay-style non sequitur: a disquisition on the martial superiority of the tuna over the lion, a brawl at a funeral conducted in respectful whispers, the sentence "I want to break your hip" deployed as a tender foreplay overture. It's enough to remind us why audiences first connected with McKay's (and Ferrell's) disorderly absurdism--a no-self-awareness zone where the air is thick with macho bluster and barely suppressed male hysteria, with diesel fumes and Sex Panther. As broad and lewd as his movies and skits can be, a look at the roots of McKay's brand of "smart-dumb comedy" reveals some surprisingly highbrow and esoteric influences. To continue reading, click here. Jessica Winter is a writer in New York. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Mitch McConnell Thinks Barack Obama Should Start Acting Like Bill Clinton The Reason Deflation Is So Scary: We Have No Tools To Fight It What It's Really Like To Live in Gaza	Advertisement
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