Let’s Be Cops is a wayward, humorous happenstance that utilizes one of the more unconventional approaches to the familiar buddy cop genre. It’s an amusing intersection of a comedy and a crime drama, and a jocular embellishment of the genre which pokes fun at a number of classic “cop” scenarios. The movie stars Jake Johnson (Neighbors), Damon Wayans, Jr. (The Other Guys), Rob Riggle (22 Jump Street), Nina Dobrev (The Vampire Diaries), James D’Arcy (Cloud Atlas), Keegan-Michael Key (Bucky Larson: Born To Be a Star), and Andy Garcia (Rio 2).
Let's Be Cops attempts to add itself to the list of modern buddy cop films with one of the more creative takes on the genre. The film starts off with a bang but the comedy quickly begins to dissipate as the plot of the story starts to take shape. It hyper focuses on trying to embed the theme of friendship and maturation too much that it offsets much of the comedy and wastes far too much of the film. Let’s Be Cops really shows the true value of friendship as the two would be cops learn to truly appreciate one another.
The first 35 minutes are hysterical, despite the fact that most of that portion of the movie is what was advertised in the trailers. Within that time, Let’s Be Cops has some of the best comedy of the year. This sets the tone and gives the audience exactly what we came for. Most of the comedy is crude and laced with vulgarities, obscenities, and a feverish number of sexually based jokes. Many of the films best parts are when it decides to focus on the slapstick nature that utilizes the obscenities. The film would have been hilarious if it would have emphasized more on those aspects, and continued with that theme, however the comedy severely falls off after the first third of the movie. From then on out Let's Be Cops focuses too much on making sure that the themes of friendship and responsibility are known and deviates too far from what made the film enjoyable.
The cast of Let’s Be Cops is led by Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans, Jr., both of whom appear on TV's New Girl, and together the pair make a good comedic tandem. They have completely contrasting styles but fit well on screen together, and play very well of one another. Rob Riggle continues to add to his growing list of great roles with another supporting comedic part, and makes the most of his limited screen time as Officer Segars.
The biggest flaw with Let’s Be Cops is that it doesn’t stay true to what it’s billed as. The movie is advertised as a more of a slapstick comedic film but it quickly starys away from that. It seems the makers of the movie lost sight of that aspect while embedding the plot. Let’s Be Cops is at its best when it just makes fun out of the duo who are pretending to be policeman and the haphazard chaos that stems from it. Those are the true comedic gems of this. Maybe they should do a sequel or a reality series with this concept, because it had great potential that was never truly realized. Let’s Be Cops still manages some good level of entertainment but it’s painful to think of what it could have been.
Rating ***
Let's Be Cops arrives in UK Cinemas on August 27th.
Da’Mon Guy is a writer and artist. He’s a graduate of Coppin State University and an avid, life-long lover of film. Da'Mon has been actively writing movie reviews since 2011, for a number of publications. Check out more of his work at Examiner.com, where he has published over 400 reviews. Visit his Blog and follow him on Twitter.
