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On paper, a movie that holds a feeble 18% Rotten Tomatoes score, a pedestrian 51% user rating, and was named by none other than Time magazine as one of the worst releases of 2014 would point towards a box office bomb. And yet, 2014’s subversive buddy cop caper Let’s Be Cops was a massive success.
Made for just $17 million, co-writer and director Luke Greenfield’s action comedy netted an impressive $138 million during its theatrical run, before going on to generate an additional $13.5 million on home video in the United States alone, ensuring the profit margins were through the roof.
New Girl co-stars Damon Wayans Jr. and Jake Johnson reunite to play a struggling game designer and an unemployed dropout still trying to coast by on his former fame as a college quarterback. Heading back to their hometown for a college reunion, they end up being drawn into a conspiracy of lies, murder, and deceit after misunderstanding the assignment when turning up to the party dressed as cops.
Finding themselves showered in the praise and admiration they’d always wanted, the duo decide to take things further by pretending to be law enforcement everywhere they go, which quickly and inevitably puts them in very real danger. It’s a decent setup, but the overwhelmingly apathetic reactions paint the picture of a high concept premise with undoubted potential that failed to hit the target.
That being said, Let’s Be Cops has been over-performing on streaming this week after landing on the iTunes most-watched chart, as per FlixPatrol. It’s become a firm favorite among at-home audiences, to the extent it’s surprising that a sequel never materialized.