3363. Let’s Be Cops (2014)

Starring: Jake Johnson, Damon Wayans Jr., Rob Riggle

Director: Luke Greenfield

Running Time: 104 mins

Let’s Be Cops is an American film about a pair of friends down on their luck who dress as police officers one evening, and soon discover that impersonating cops is a whole heap of fun. That is, until they find themselves leading an investigation against one of the city’s most notorious gangs.

So, two buddies dress up as policemen and end up carrying on impersonating them for the kicks. Let’s Be Cops isn’t going to be a masterpiece of cerebral cinema then, but what it is is a really fun little comedy, with two hilarious lead performances and a surprisingly entertaining blend of chaotic, shrill humour and the odd bit of gross-out humour.

In short, Let’s Be Cops is an hour and a half of dumb fun. It has no special message to give, nor does it ever spend much time on the depth of its characters. Instead, it’s all about letting you live out the ridiculous fantasy of impersonating a police officer and gaining all the power that comes with it.

Couple that with the fact that the movie works really nicely as a buddy comedy, thanks to Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr.’s genuinely likable on-screen chemistry and friendship, and this is the kind of movie to kick back and enjoy without even thinking about for a moment.

What’s often the biggest problem with this brand of ‘late-night’ Hollywood comedy is that the gags are so dumb and frankly annoying that the movie can be almost unbearable to watch. Let’s Be Cops fits right into that bracket, and even goes heavy on the shrill, screamy comedy along with a few moments of gross-out.

But for whatever reason, I didn’t find this movie an annoying watch at all. Sure, the screamiest moments aren’t the funniest, but whether it was the fact that my brain was fully turned off or I was just basking in the ludicrously idiotic fun, Let’s Be Cops proved a genuinely enjoyable watch from start to finish.

So, while it’s no masterpiece – and was frankly never going to be – Let’s Be Cops is a surprisingly delightful watch, with fantastically silly, light-hearted buddy humour that is as far from intelligence and reality as can be. Easy-going and action-packed, it’s a great bit of ludicrous fun, so that’s why I’m giving it a 7.2 overall.