In Hollywood, it’s been said, the most creative people are the accountants. Therefore it’s not surprising that several current films would simultaneously feature financiers as bad guys: Dinner for Schmucks, Takers, The Other Guys, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. But Will Ferrell, co-star and co-writer of the funniest of the lot, The Other Guys, appears to have a particular animus toward Wall Street. He and Mark Wahlberg play cop buddies who stumble upon Steve Coogan as a high-rolling, Ponzi-scheming moneyman who’s billions in the red and up to vague but plainly evil business.
With lines like “Goldman Sachs? This is going to be a nasty one!” the script makes no secret of its sensibility. And if filmgoers still don’t get it, Ferrell and co-writer and director Adam McKay run charts in the credits purporting to depict the TARP bailout, CEO bonuses and other outrages.
“Crime has changed so much,” McKay told National Public Radio. “We got Bernie Madoff literally stealing billions of dollars, AIG stealing hundreds of billions. Doing a movie with drug dealers is almost quaint at this point.”
