Let's Be Cops
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: August 13, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
30
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
9
Negative:
12
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
67
Austin ChronicleWilliam GossAug 20, 2014
The viable chemistry between these two leads keeps the ball in the air, even when the balls land elsewhere in strained homophobic gags. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Aug 13, 2014
At times, the movie seems to exist for no other purpose than to collide these two personalities together, privileging their antagonistic banter above all else. But isn’t that the basic point of all buddy comedies? Read full review
60
EmpireNick de SemlyenAug 25, 2014
Some nice comic beats and a sinister Andy Garcia turn make this far more watchable that the fratty conceit might suggest. Read full review
50
Village VoiceBrittany SpanosAug 14, 2014
Though it charms, it's difficult to ignore how many times we've seen this story played out before. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriAug 14, 2014
Let’s Be Cops has its moments, but it in no way distinguishes itself. Read full review
50
VarietyJoe LeydonAug 13, 2014
The mix of raucous buffoonery and violent mayhem isn’t exactly seamless, and the laugh-out-loud moments come with conspicuously less frequency during a third act that suggests a rough draft for “Bad Boys 3.” Read full review
42
HitfixDrew McWeenyAug 14, 2014
The script by Luke Greenfield and Nicholas Thomas makes too many easy choices, and it simply doesn't work in terms of maintaing credible audience sympathy. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 14, 2014
There are some laughs here, but not many. Johnson and Wayans have a pleasant enough chemistry, but the best parts of the movie are when Johnson gives Ryan an unhinged quality. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleAug 13, 2014
The movie relies too much on the same comic tension in each scene: Johnson is the gung-ho one, Wayans says no (a lot). Read full review
40
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeAug 13, 2014
With a combination of jokes that don't land and a constant flurry of exposition and plotting to keep these flimsy plates spinning, Let's Be Cops more often than not feels more like a court-ordered defensive-driving class than a rousing high-speed chase. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJordan HoffmanAug 13, 2014
This alleged comedy takes a long time before it gets its first laugh in. The first half is a complete slog and the ending is insulting, but there are a few semi-arresting sketch comedy moments. Read full review
39
Film.comKate ErblandAug 13, 2014
The film is confusingly and sloppily put together, edited down to the point that the few genuine jokes of Let’s Be Cops are given precious little time to breathe, before zipping into the next sequence of increasingly irrational events. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoAug 13, 2014
Despite a premise rife with potential dark humor, there’s too little edge in Let’s Be Cops. Director/co-writer Luke Greenfield chose wacky over witty and the result is a film with no sense of danger, no reason to care and not enough laughs to make the sitcomish handling of a strong premise forgivable. Read full review
38
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreAug 12, 2014
"What's the worst that could happen?" The answer to that is, you could end up in a summer comedy that's barely funny enough to warrant — ahem — release in the summer. Read full review
30
The New York TimesAndy WebsterAug 14, 2014
[A] disposable comedy. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckAug 13, 2014
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 thuddingly flat. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeTom RussoAug 14, 2014
None of this is as riotously zany as it wants to be. Read full review
25
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthAug 13, 2014
Let's Be Cops is a fine example of what happens when filmmakers rely too heavily on the potential chemistry of the cast, rather than giving actors something decent on the page to work with. Read full review
20
Time OutJoshua RothkopfAug 15, 2014
From "Police Academy" to "Hot Fuzz," there are satires to be made about undisciplined law enforcement; this will not join their ranks, try as it might. Read full review
20
The DissolveNathan RabinAug 13, 2014
Let’s Be Cops takes its premise in the dullest, most predictable direction imaginable, as a wacky mismatched-buddy-cop movie pitched to the lowest common denominator. Read full review
12
New York PostLou LumenickAug 13, 2014
The only truly lethal weapons in the criminally unfunny action comedy Let’s Be Cops are the lame script, putrid direction and pair of sitcom stars mugging nonstop in frantic pursuit of laughs that have fled over the state line. Read full review
0
Washington PostAnn HornadayAug 14, 2014
Johnson and Wayans are both gifted comic performers but are given way too little to do in a film that wends its way from set piece to set piece, not with antic glee but desultory and-then-this-happens randomness. Read full review
0
Entertainment WeeklyJason ClarkAug 14, 2014
If Let's Be Cops were content to be simply an unfunny genre exercise, it would be easy to dismiss it and move on. But the sting of astoundingly ill-advised sexism and homophobia is harder to shake. Read full review
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