Many of today's comedies
have become incredibly predictable and uniform; they tend to have the
same kind of plot, characters, jokes, and endings. They may not
offer anything new, but they aren't particularly bad or offensive
either, and they certainly deliver on their promise, which is to
provide at least a few laughs. The latest offering, fresh off the
assembly line, is “Let's Be Cops.”
The plot revolves around two friends,
Ryan (Jake Johnson) and Justin (Damon Wayans Jr.) who moved to LA to
make it and found that they've hit thirty and don't have much to show
for it. Ryan is a former athlete whose promising career was cut
short by an injury, and is now a failed actor, while Justin is a
video game designer who can't seem to get his ideas approved by his
boss. But when they dress up as cops after they're invited to a
friend's party, they find out that they like the attention and
confidence they get when everyone mistakes them for the real thing.
This leads Ryan to take it further, and
he decides to buy a cop car and taking
it upon them both to assist real cops in taking down a
dangerous crime boss. Will their incompetent antics and zany
adventures lead to lessons learned, a bad guy defeated, jumpstarting
their lives and Justin getting the hot love interest (Nina Dobrev of
“The Vampire Diaries”)? Hmm.
But there
are a few good things to be found here. Two really. The
movie's only saving grace is the chemistry between the two leads, who
both manage to elevate this rather lazy effort through sheer talent
and force of will, but just barely. They're the reason you actually
laugh. I'd say this is another movie whose best scenes are in the
trailer, but even that isn't possible, since bad editing means that
even some of those are removed. But luckily, along with our two
leads there are also a few side characters such as Rob Riggle and
Keegan-Michael Key to take up the slack, as well as a few good action
scenes that actually try to
be realistic about how normal people might react under pressure.
Nothing special. But then, “Let's Be
Cops” doesn't promise anything special. Must be why what it
delivers doesn't feel like much of a letdown.
Grade: C-
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