REVIEW: LET'S BE COPS

LET'S BE COPS

RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

RATED: R

RUNNING TIME: 104 MINUTES

CHRIS'S RATING: ***1/2/*****

 

PREMISE: (Via IMDB) 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.               

 

THE PRO'S: Some extremely funny moments, good acting, very fun and fast-paced, relatable characters, avoids any "potty humor", and instead goes with straight up slapstick and classic humor.

 

THE CON'S: The last ten-fifteen minutes start getting borderline silly, somewhat-cliché, some of the humor does fall flat.

THE REVIEW:

 

In a year without many "comedy" options, I was a little weary of Let's Be Cops. Yes, it looked very funny, but so did one of the biggest dud's of the year: A Million Ways To Die In The West. That being said, Let's Be Cops was a very excellent and well-written surprise with some great laughs and surprisingly great acting.

 

As the premise denotes, the movie tells the story of Ryan, a former college football star turned wash-out and Justin, a struggling video game designer. After they (in rather comedic fashion) show up to a fraternity party dressed as cops, they take to the streets, and end up saving a small business in the process. As a result, they are mistaken for real cops, which they decide to roll with, tired of being "losers" in life. The problem? They've just busted the biggest crime ring in the city, and now the mobsters behind it are looking to get even.

 

It's a rather comedic story that makes for many, many laughs and stupid antics from the two. Damn Wayans, Jr. and Jake Johnson make an excellent pair, and play off each other rather well. While other noteworthy side-characters come from Nina Dobrev's Josie, and a Rastafarian man named Pupa, played by Kegan Michael Key. All of these characters drive the heart of the movie and excellently handle their comedic roles and timing excellently, with Pupa easily stealing the show in every scene he's in.

 

I want to especially commend the movie for avoiding any "potty humor". There are no poop, fart, and juvenile jokes inside the movie, and instead, it's mainly well written slapstick and classic humor. And while at times, the movie does not always hit its mark with humor, it always manages to at least earn a chuckle. I cannot deny in any way that this is, a very funny movie.

 

The problem here is not its humor, but rather how much it has. Towards the end of the movie, it becomes very clear that they are running out of ideas. With the jokes starting to get borderline silly, or repeated too often. And this is overall, the biggest downfall the movie has: it feels like it should have ended about twenty minutes earlier, and it could have been wrapped up more quickly.

 

The only other complaint to note is that the movie is not the most creative comedy ever. The storyline has been done a million times before in a different context. But this is helped overall by the fact that the script is written so well. I can easily ignore the clicheness of it in order to appreciate the writing and humor, but in the end, it's still a very cliché movie, unfortunately.

 

This all being said, it truly is one of those movies that utilizes the buddy-comedy genre well, and knows what kind of movie it's making. Between the great humor, and its many stars, the movie is a great way to spend a couple hours at the movies. Even if it probably only offers one watch, given it's hard to see much rewatch value once the story is over.

 

IN CONCLUSION:

 

Let's Be Cops is an above average buddy-comedy that had me in stitches. While it's not the most original story, it's fantastic use of its actors and fantastic writing save what could have been a rather subpar movie. It's definitely worth giving a watch, being this is one of the better comedy choices this year.

 

 

3 AND A HALF/5 STARS
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