Let's Be Cops (2014)
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Critics Consensus: Damon Wayans, Jr. and Jake Johnson have comedic chemistry; unfortunately, Let's Be Cops fails to do anything with it.
Critics Consensus: Damon Wayans, Jr. and Jake Johnson have comedic chemistry; unfortunately, Let's Be Cops fails to do anything with it.
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Movie Info
It's the ultimate buddy cop movie except for one thing: they're not cops. When two struggling pals dress as police officers for a costume party, they become neighborhood sensations. But when these newly-minted "heroes" get tangled in a real life web of mobsters and dirty detectives, they must put their fake badges on the line. (c) Fox- Rating:
- R (for language including sexual references, some graphic nudity, violence and drug use)
- Genre:
- Action & Adventure , Comedy
- Directed By:
- Luke Greenfield
- Written By:
- Luke Greenfield , Thomas Ian Nicholas , Nicholas Thomas
- In Theaters:
- Aug 13, 2014 Wide
- On DVD:
- Nov 11, 2014
- US Box Office:
- $81.9M
Cast
-
Damon Wayans Jr.
as Justin -
Jake Johnson
as Ryan -
Rob Riggle
as Segars -
Nina Dobrev
as Josie -
James D'Arcy
as Mossi
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Critic Reviews for Let's Be Cops
All Critics (61) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (12) | Rotten (49)
The chillingly gung-ho darkness that Johnson lends his comic riffs would be the story, if only the director, Luke Greenfield, didn't play the movie solely for laughs, which are few and far between.
This notion might have worked perfectly well in sketch form, but stretched out to feature length - in a film that's overlong at nearly two hours - it grows thin, repetitive and wearying.
Let's be clear: No one should choose this movie. It's a title in search of a plot. It could also have been called Let's Be Funnier, Let's Be Directed, Let's Be 15 to 30 Minutes Shorter, Let's Be 22 Jump Street.
"You've been watching too many movies," says a detective (Andy Garcia) during an interrogation in "Let's Be Cops." The same could be said for the filmmakers, who hit predictable beats in this disposable comedy.
None of this is as riotously zany as it wants to be.
Let's earnestly hope there is no sequel.
Pendulums between addle-brained frathouse cops-on-charade shtick and blandly sober let's-pretend-we're-not-in-some-bad-movieland-fantasy. You'll suffer from PTSD (Post-Terrible Story Disorder) and wish you'd worn a s**tproof vest.
Police Academy 6: City Under Siege has long been regarded as the worst ever cop comedy. That questionable honour, however, is now under threat from this criminally unfunny satire.
Rarely as fun as one might've hoped...
Short prison sentences for all involved would seem fair.
There are enough jokes to help steady the narrative back in the right direction. Unfortunately, it's just not quite enough to keep you on board.
An agreeably dumb comedy about two 30-year-old men with self-esteem issues who find the perfect boost to their fragile egos and frustrated lives....by playing at policemen.
The dopey duo have a few decent lines, though Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum already showed us how to do the pseudo-cop routine in the Jump Street pictures.
Let's Be Cops, in three depressingly simple words, at least gives value for money: a title, a studio pitch, a high-concept plot summary, and an apt example of the astonishingly low bar this film aspires to.
Let's Be Cops is a stinker on just about every conceivable level.
Let's Be Cops is an amiable watch that succeeds in spite of its many flaws, but you can't help but wonder what someone like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang's Shane Black or Superbad's Greg Mottola might have done had they got hold of it.
Some nice comic beats and a sinister Andy Garcia turn make this far more watchable that the fratty conceit might suggest.
Noisy gunplay, screaming homophobia and stale gags that couldn't get arrested at any other time of the year.
The only thing missing is a sequel.
"Let's Be Cops" is a fine example of what happens when filmmakers rely too heavily on the potential chemistry of the cast, rather than giving actors something decent on the page to work with.
Over-the-top comedy has tons of swearing, other iffy stuff.
Let's Be Cops raises the occasional smile but is so generic it feels like a thousand other comedies that came before it.
Jokes are mostly absent, and what few exist dive into the deep end of the bad-taste pool. Johnson and Wayans, whatever comic chemistry they have on TV, are hard-pressed to fill the void.
The viable chemistry between these two leads keeps the ball in the air, even when the balls land elsewhere in strained homophobic gags.
Don't hate this movie because it's a celebration of reckless police power at a time when such a thing is somewhat out of favor- hate it because it's unfunny, derivative and ultimately totally nonsensical.
Audience Reviews for Let's Be Cops
I think you need to be in the right mood for this movie in general, but it is funny enough and the stupid humor balances out with surprisingly intelligent nuances. I went in thinking I was going to watch a really awful movie, but it exceeded my expectations easily and is one of my favorite comedies of the summer.
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Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Ryan: Even the cops think we're cops!
I see a lot of movies and I enjoy rewatching a lot of movies. One would think that I would rewatch movies that I especially like, but that is not necessarily true. The example that applies here is a film called Blue Steak. This was a forgettable Martin Lawrence comedy from 1999, where Lawrence starred as a jewel thief posing as a police officer. It is not especially clever, but I find it entertaining and seem to watch it, for some amount of time, whenever it appears on TV. Let's Be Cops is similar in both being about some guys posing as police officers and that it is not especially clever either. The film is not even as good as Blue Streak, but hey, I would maybe stop to check in on Let's Be Cops, were I to find it on TV years from now.
read the whole review at thecodeiszeek.com
Super Reviewer
Now here is a film that could have been so much worse, considering the director's earlier work, such as "The Animal" or "Something Borrowed," which are both dreadful movies. Jake Johnson and Damon Wayan's Jr. are a great duo and even though their character set ups are quick and easy to have written, you can easily care for them and their situations. After mistaking a masquerade party for a costume party, these two roommates go out on the town dressed as cops and make people believe they really are. It works and things get taken a little too far for their liking when they begin to get involved in a very cliched good vs. bad storyline. If it wasn't for a nice little twist at the end, the secondary plot in this movie would have ruined it. Down to the bones, this film really is just a showcase for these actors to be funny, because it is kind of a predictable movie. Overall, the story needs work, but it was funny most of the time and I had a good time watching it. Would I recommend it? Yeah, I think so.
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