Let's Be Cops
3/4
Starring: Jake Johnson, Damon Wayans Jr., James D'Arcy, Nina Dobrev, Andy Garcia, Rob Riggle
Rated R for Language including Sexual References, Some Graphic Nudity, Violence and Drug Use
"Let's Be Cops" is a very, very dumb movie. It is filled with what my best friend calls "stupid humor." Nevertheless, the film is frequently hilarious, with two sequences that brought down the house.
Ryan (Johnson) and Justin (Wayans Jr.) have been best friends since their college days at Purdue. They've moved to LA to seek their fortunes, but neither one has found it. Ryan is a professional layabout who fancies himself a football coach to a group of kids while Justin is a doormat working at a video game company. When attending a reunion party, they realize that their lives are going nowhere fast. They have dressed as cops (this results in a joke that I won't give away), and on their way home, they are impressed with the attention that they're getting. Ryan thinks it would be cool to pretend to be cops and abuse his powers, but Justin doesn't want anything to do with it (he is convinced when they get a call at a sorority house, which leads to what is probably the single funniest scene all year). They quickly get in way over their heads when they pick a fight with a nasty thug named Mossi (D'Arcy). Now they have to figure out how far they are going to take their mischief, which could get them arrested or killed.
Admittedly, this is an amusing if juvenile concept for a movie, but Jake Johnson is very funny as Ryan. His energy and comic timing make a lot of the jokes as funny as they are. Less successful is Damon Wayans, Jr. He may be related to the guys behind "Scary Movie," but little of their comic skills have been passed onto him. Justin is supposed to be a party pooper who gets corrupted, but he takes it too far, and as a result is a pretty boring individual. He has little chemistry with the sexpot waitress Josie (Dobrev) due in part to his lackluster performance.
This is their show, but they're surrounded by a solid supporting cast. Nina Dobrev is cute, but that's all the screenplay allows her to be. James D'Arcy pumps up the fierce, so much so that he's more threatening than funny (which is odd in a movie like this). Ditto for Andy Garcia, who's unbilled part is a pretty big surprise for those who aren't expecting it. D'Arcy appears to be having fun, but Garcia takes his part a little too seriously.
The film was directed by Luke Greenfield, whose resume is spotty. He directed a Rob Schneider vehicle, "The Animal," which I didn't see, and "Something Borrowed," which I did. But he also directed "The Girl Next Door," which the great critic Dustin Putman gave a 4/4 rating to. But in filmmaking, past history doesn't mean much.
Not every joke works. The first 10 minutes are pretty painful, but when Ryan and Justin start pretending to be cops, the film takes off. It's still in no way sophisticated (the film's concept lives or dies based on whether or not you accept that everyone in LA is a complete imbecile), but even at the end, Greenfield doesn't take things too seriously. That's to the film's benefit. The stuff with Mossi doesn't really kick in until the final act, and Greenfield keeps it strong enough to engage but simple enough for a comedy.
"Let's Be Cops" is a little uneven, but it's definitely funny enough for a person with a sense of humor to go out and see, especially considering the dearth of watchable material this August.
Starring: Jake Johnson, Damon Wayans Jr., James D'Arcy, Nina Dobrev, Andy Garcia, Rob Riggle
Rated R for Language including Sexual References, Some Graphic Nudity, Violence and Drug Use
"Let's Be Cops" is a very, very dumb movie. It is filled with what my best friend calls "stupid humor." Nevertheless, the film is frequently hilarious, with two sequences that brought down the house.
Ryan (Johnson) and Justin (Wayans Jr.) have been best friends since their college days at Purdue. They've moved to LA to seek their fortunes, but neither one has found it. Ryan is a professional layabout who fancies himself a football coach to a group of kids while Justin is a doormat working at a video game company. When attending a reunion party, they realize that their lives are going nowhere fast. They have dressed as cops (this results in a joke that I won't give away), and on their way home, they are impressed with the attention that they're getting. Ryan thinks it would be cool to pretend to be cops and abuse his powers, but Justin doesn't want anything to do with it (he is convinced when they get a call at a sorority house, which leads to what is probably the single funniest scene all year). They quickly get in way over their heads when they pick a fight with a nasty thug named Mossi (D'Arcy). Now they have to figure out how far they are going to take their mischief, which could get them arrested or killed.
Admittedly, this is an amusing if juvenile concept for a movie, but Jake Johnson is very funny as Ryan. His energy and comic timing make a lot of the jokes as funny as they are. Less successful is Damon Wayans, Jr. He may be related to the guys behind "Scary Movie," but little of their comic skills have been passed onto him. Justin is supposed to be a party pooper who gets corrupted, but he takes it too far, and as a result is a pretty boring individual. He has little chemistry with the sexpot waitress Josie (Dobrev) due in part to his lackluster performance.
This is their show, but they're surrounded by a solid supporting cast. Nina Dobrev is cute, but that's all the screenplay allows her to be. James D'Arcy pumps up the fierce, so much so that he's more threatening than funny (which is odd in a movie like this). Ditto for Andy Garcia, who's unbilled part is a pretty big surprise for those who aren't expecting it. D'Arcy appears to be having fun, but Garcia takes his part a little too seriously.
The film was directed by Luke Greenfield, whose resume is spotty. He directed a Rob Schneider vehicle, "The Animal," which I didn't see, and "Something Borrowed," which I did. But he also directed "The Girl Next Door," which the great critic Dustin Putman gave a 4/4 rating to. But in filmmaking, past history doesn't mean much.
Not every joke works. The first 10 minutes are pretty painful, but when Ryan and Justin start pretending to be cops, the film takes off. It's still in no way sophisticated (the film's concept lives or dies based on whether or not you accept that everyone in LA is a complete imbecile), but even at the end, Greenfield doesn't take things too seriously. That's to the film's benefit. The stuff with Mossi doesn't really kick in until the final act, and Greenfield keeps it strong enough to engage but simple enough for a comedy.
"Let's Be Cops" is a little uneven, but it's definitely funny enough for a person with a sense of humor to go out and see, especially considering the dearth of watchable material this August.
I have to disagree with you on Wayans, I thought he had fantastic comic-timing(especially in the scene where he tries to subdue a naked man), I wish the subplot with Josie was fleshed out a bit more though.
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