This turd somehow became a surprise mini-hit this weekend, taking in almost as much as its tiny budget, and beating out Expendables 3 at the box office…hmmm, a Let’s Be Cops vs. Expendables 3 battle, talk about the land where dwarfs cast tall shadows.
What Works: The idea of Jake Johnson (the poor man’s Oscar Isaacs) teaming up with his New Girl co-star Damon Wayans Jr. for a hard-R rated comedy free from Deschanel quirkiness or Schmidt’s one-note hamminess may be an appealing one. I also like that this is the rare movie that spoofs Hollywood’s relentless obsession with cliched supernatural bullshit over real danger (all of the videogame company “creative meeting” scenes feel like they could be movie pitch meetings too). Plus, two going-nowhere millenialls pretending to be cops so they can get respect and girls seems like a decent enough set-up. But as with everything in life, it’s all about the execution…
What Doesn’t: The “jokes” in this movie are few and far between, and I’m not just talking about the few that actually work. People who go in for a rowdy good time will feel bait-and-switched by the trailer, as a lot of this movie is really about the depression and failed hopes of these two guys, with occasional detours into romance, generic thriller, and straight-up cop movie. It’s an awkward mix, one that includes a sleepwalking Andy Garcia, a lifeless Nina Dobrev (although she’s refreshingly paired up with Wayans Jr. instead of Johnson), and an Eastern European bad guy who’s so one-note you expect Stallone to come lay a whooping on him at any time. By the time Rob Riggle shows up as a legit cop—who never for a second seems to notice there’s anything wrong with these two—it’s hard to tell if the movie even still wants to be a comedy. And as much as I like Damon Wayans Jr. (he’s always the standout on any TV shows he’s on), it’s as if even he doesn’t believe in the material he’s been given, having a slightly bored disposition in almost every scene. Jake Johnson may be a too-mild choice for the “wild man” half of this buddy picture, but at least he’s the only person on screen who’s committing to the material.
What I Would Have Done Differently: There’s actually two people on screen committing to the material, and the other is another TV standout, Key and Peele’s Keegan Michael Key as a gnarly looking informant. The very end of the movie seems to be an advertisement for a better, wilder film with Johnson and Key, and you can’t help but wish you’d just watched that one instead.