Starring: Jake Johnson, Damon Wayans JR, Rob Riggle, Nina Dobrev, Keegan-Michael Kay, James D'Arcy, Andy Garcia, Jon Lajoe, Tom Mardirosian, Natasha Leggero.
Year Of Release: 2014
Certificate: 15 (UK)
Runtime: 104 Minutes
Director: Luke Greenfield
Synopsis: "Two struggling pals dress as police officers for a costume party and
become neighbourhood sensations. But when these newly-minted "heroes" get
tangled in a real life web of mobsters and dirty detectives, they must
put their fake badges on the line." IMDB
I'll be 100% honest while I was looking forward to this film a whole lot, I was also very apprehensive about it too due Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans JR's characters in "New Girl" losing their enjoyable factor after the show hit an all time low for me. So I kind of went into the film with pretty low expectations, here is my review.
Justin (Wayans) and Ryan (Johnson) have both his their 30s with nothing to their names and that feeling is really playing on both of their minds. Justin is a games designer who can not seem to catch a break in the field and the other is a full blown loser living off the money he made in a herpes advertisement and they are both stuck in their ways and know it. That is, until Ryan has the genius idea to attend a costume party in official LAPD uniforms Justin has (for making his game is safe to assume), while out and about in their newly acquired uniforms they find out what it would be like to live the life of real life cops (like we ALL haven't wondered it) the respect and admiration they have been looking for all their lives.
While Justin loves the idea of a one off event rocking the uniforms, Ryan has other plans, he can't seem to let go the newly acquired lifestyle they lead, resulting in him buying an old cop car off eBay. The trouble really kicks off when Ryan and Justin end up on the wrong side of Albanian crime cartel and their leader Mossi Kasic (D'Arcy who you will struggle to recognise, I know I did) resulting in some hilarious mishaps and brilliant action sequences. With toy guns, YouTube instructions and boredom, can these two everyday guys cut it as cops?
Overall, the film is incredibly funny made me regret having my apprehensions going in, I think the show runners are "New Girl" could learn a think or two about the dynamic and incorporate it in the show. The film isn't a laugh a minute Comedy, I personally would put it under the Buddy Cop genre along with "Lethal Weapon" heck it is like a 2014 version of that film, Wayan's character even references it very early on. To be honest the best part of the entire film was Wayans and Johnsons chemistry, they oozed the comedic chemistry missing from a lot of buddy comedies in recent years.
I HIGHLY recommend this film, if you are like me and apprehensive about their chemistry due to "New Girl" let them fears fall by the way side, this film 100% makes up for it. Full of Action, laughs, character progression and relate-able to an extent characters, thoroughly enjoyable watch.
7/10
