‘Let’s Be Cops’ is short on laughs
Print Edition
AT one point during “Let’s Be Cops,” actor Damon Wayans Jr has a scene in which a huge naked man’s groin is inches from his face. That’s a good approximation of what filmgoers will experience during this witless high-concept comedy featuring him and Jake Johnson, his co-star on the sitcom “New Girl.”
In case you didn’t deduce it from the title, the film concerns two stumblebums who decide to impersonate policemen for kicks.
They are 30-year-olds Ryan (Johnson), a former college athlete and mostly unemployed actor who spends his time barging in on children’s football games, and Justin (Wayans), a struggling video game designer.
When the pair don police uniforms, borrowed from Justin’s failed attempt at pitching a cop-themed video game, to attend a masquerade party that they mistakenly assume is a costume party, they find themselves the recipients of adoring female attention and respectful deference from everyone with whom they come into contact. Since the film is set in Los Angeles, that’s the first clue that nothing will be remotely believable.
The pair is soon engaged in various hijinks that escalate when Ryan buys a used police car on eBay and outfits it with the literal bells and whistles.
Although the milquetoast Justin initially resists the charade, he enthusiastically joins in after finally getting somewhere with Josie (Nina Dobrev), the beautiful coffee shop waitress for whom he’s been pining.
They eventually run afoul of a gang of Russian mobsters headed by Mossi (a buffed-up James D’Arcy). With the aid of a real cop (Rob Riggle) who at first mistakes them for the real thing, they get embroiled in a dangerous investigation in which they’re in way over their heads.
The screenplay, co-written by Nicholas Thomas and director Luke Greenfield, fails to mine the potentially humorous premise for the necessary laughs, with nearly all of the gags falling flat. As if realizing the humor wasn’t going anywhere, the film suddenly lurches into action movie territory, complete with the sort of violence and brutality at odds with the farcical setup.
The failure of the film truly shows in the end credits, which are accompanied by brief comic scenes that were cut. Perversely, these scenes are funnier than anything in the actual movie.
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