Weekend at the Movies – Let’s Be Cops

After last week’s farcically bad Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I figured I could do with a proper comedy. But, despite the continuing trend of the theater being practically cluttered with new movies each late summer weekend, I only had one choice for laughs: Let’s Be Cops. Let’s get this over with.

In Let’s Be Cops, two thirtysomething losers—one a caricature of a failed video game designer (Damon Wayans, Jr.), the other a football star turned layabout (Jake Johnson)—show up to a college reunion-cum-masquerade in full cop uniforms. (It was a “costume party.”) Their faux pas is an unexpected success, however, when strangers believe that they really are cops. Comedic shenanigans ensue, until the Russian mobsters they piss off with their fake-cop bravado decide to get some not-fake payback.

Is it fair for me to say that Let’s Be Cops was doomed from the start, victim of its own faulty premise? If anything, it’s in good company with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which bafflingly decided that its titular characters shouldn’t be its protagonists, but unlike that cartoonish mess, we have plenty of excellent examples of the inverted buddy cop genre to weigh against.

Take 21 Jump Street, for instance. (Or it’s even better sequel.) Fundamentally, it follows the same formula: our buddies abuse and are abused by their false identities until their underlying policework comes to a head, jumpstarting the final act from situation comedy to full-blown action flick.

Here’s the thing, though. In the Jump Streets, we have a pair of trained cops pretending to be not-cops—which is funny—and when the time comes for action, they’re trained cops! They know how to handle themselves. (And how to still be funny!) In Let’s Be Cops, we have a pair of not-cops pretending to be trained cops—which is still funny—but when their harmless fun turns hardcore, not only are they totally unprepared, they’re dangerously in over their heads.

That’s when Let’s Be Cops falls apart. I’m not going to say that the first act is all comedy gold, because it’s not, but the missteps are at least punctuated with moments of (low-hanging) laughs out loud. The further the film strays into its Serious Business, the more it becomes unfunny drudgery. And no, the overfull-of-heart ending doesn’t do a damn thing to rescue it. (If anything, it buries it further.)

In comedies especially, characters (and the actors who play them) are key, but there’s no redemption to be found, here. Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans, Jr. are fine, if playing archetypes we’ve seen them play before. Keegan-Michael Key, who is usually such a joy to watch, is completely wasted in an extended cameo whose overwrought character work feels totally out of place in the otherwise relatively grounded cast.

If anyone is a standout in Let’s Be Cops, it’s Rob Riggle, who shines in the film’s otherwise awful serious sections. Heroism suits him, and I’d love to see him put it on more often. Oh, and did I mention Andy Garcia as a steely-eyed turncoat cop? I hope he had fun on set, because I doubt this movie paid well.

You already know to look for 21 and 22 Jump Street if you want a great inverted buddy cop movie, but you should check out The Other Guys while you’re at it. Will Ferrell as straight man to Mark Wahlberg’s unintentional buffoon is something you’re probably only going to see once, and should not be missed.

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