Goofballs in uniform; it's certainly something we've seen before. But what if they weren't actually cops? You now have the film Let's Be Cops. It opens quick with our two heroes, Ryan and Justin, declaring how unsuccessful and lacking in ambition they are. Ryan (Jake Johnson) is an ex-jock, who hasn't found his calling in life. Justin (Damon Wayans Jr.) is a reserved video game producer, who gets called a bitch every ten minutes. The pairing is odd itself; since when do quarterbacks hang out with video game nerds? But then they put on the cop uniforms and see that girls are looking at them differently. People actually listen to them. This is awesome. For a laugh-filled montage we see Ryan and Justin abuse every cop privilege possible; smoking pot with teens, cutting lines to clubs, making bad guys dance. These laughs are innocent, but then the film asks us to drop any realistic pretension we had. Apparently, Ryan and Justin aren't aware that impersonating a cop is a serious crime (until one of them Googles it). In addition, apparently driving on sidewalks goes unnoticed in LA. And apparently the kids in this film just moved in from South Park. So they continue to be cops, even buying a cop car off Ebay, and obtaining surveillance equipment from Office Segar (Ron Riggle), whose character is so muddy I can't tell if he's just incredibly stupid or just super dedicated to the force. It's also unclear what the bad guy, Mossi (James D'Arcy), does. Sure he's a crazed arms dealer, but his decisions in the film are never given a good reason. He's conveniently connected to Josie (Nian Dobrev), Justin's love interest, who is drop-dead gorgeous. And he likes to shoot things aimlessly when stalking his prey. Key, from Key and Peele, plays a ridiculous rasta. The tolerance for the cop jokes, at the cost of the plot, wears out at around the middle, where the movie's turn into full-on thriller saves it. Then it's about seeing how these guys are going to make it alive. The jokes are funny and very contemporary. Jake and Damon have great chemistry, but it feels like this could have just been a sketch on Key's show. Most disappointing is that Rob Riggle's comedic talent is not displayed. This is a good film to get some easy laughs in. 7/10
Review of Let's Be Cops
