Directed by Adam McKay. Starring Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton, Steve Coogan, Ray Stevenson, Damon Wayans Jr, Anne Heche, Samuel L Jackson, Dwayne Johnson 12A cert, gen release, 107 min

IT WOULD BE as well not to over-praise the partnership between director Adam McKay and his star Will Ferrell. Nobody is likely to confuse the collaboration with that between Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich. But, over the past decade or so, the pair has delivered a pretty impressive series of loosely structured, endlessly warm-spirited comedies.

Part of McKay's task has been to find a suitable sidekick for his star: John C Reilly in Talladega Nightsand Step Brothers, Steve Carell in Anchorman, and now Mark Wahlberg for this odd-couple cop comedy. Once again, the partnership works beautifully.

Ferrell plays yet another of his trademark man-children. Wahlberg – who, as ever, looks as if he has been drawn by the animators of early Scooby Doo– does a brilliant line in simmering exasperation. Sure, it's little more than a retread of the Dragnetmovie, but that was a darn funny piece and, after nearly a quarter of a century, we are, perhaps, allowed an unofficial disinterment.

The movie begins by introducing us to a properly glamorous pair of unstoppable detectives. Played by the Rock and Samuel L Jackson, the partners can lay waste to whole blocks of midtown Manhattan without losing the support of their many fans. Meanwhile Officer Ferrell, a contented paper pusher, and Officer Wahlberg, disgraced after shooting some baseball player, toil in the clerical section of their busy precinct.

In truth, The Other Guysis not quite up to the standard of the best McKay projects. Ferrell occasionally pushes the comedy so far towards the absurd non sequitur that you lose all connection with the character. For example, a back-story concerning his early career as a pimp provides some good jokes, but it doesn't really mesh with the man we see on screen.

More seriously, the writers, who occasionally seem to forget they're not making a real cop thriller, have devised an absurdly over-complicated plot (something about evil businessman Steve Coogan) that would not seem out of place in Oliver Stone's upcoming Wall Streetsequel. A Will Ferrell film is not the place to learn about complex derivatives.

For all that, Mark and Will get excellent mileage out of their nicely balanced double-act. A zippier, less fussy sequel would not be an outrage.