The Heat is coming out this weekend, and although it’s being marketed as a buddy cop movie, and it does indeed feature two buddies – played by Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy – who are indeed cops (well, one of them’s a Fed), it is not a “buddy cop” movie. In a so-called “buddy movie,” there are two characters who are seemingly mismatched, but both have something to offer each other. They represent different ideals, different lifestyles, maybe even entirely different universes, but by the end they have both evolved for the better as people. And that’s not The Heat.
Witney Seibold reviewed the film fairly, and I agree with many of his more salient points, but he neglects to mention that over the course of the film, stick-in-the-mud Sandra Bullock learns tons of valuable lessons from antisocial dynamo Melissa McCarthy, and there’s absolutely no reciprocity. McCarthy is always right, Bullock is always wrong, and it is only through constant exposure to McCarthy’s implausible eccentric that the downtrodden hero can become a better person. That’s not horrible writing, per se, but it is not a “buddy cop” movie. It’s a Manic Pixie Dream Girl movie, without the romantic subplot, that just happens to be about cops.
So while The Heat is otherwise pretty good – a little longer than it needs to be, but still pretty good – it’s not going to scratch your itch for a buddy cop movie, if that’s what you were in the mood for this weekend. And since you already know all the old standby classics – Lethal Weapon, 48 Hours, maybe even Freebie and the Bean if you’re a real connoisseur – I’ve put together a list of 10 (Other) Great Buddy Cop Movies to watch instead, or at least after you’re done with that lame old Rush Hour trilogy.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
10 (Other) Great Buddy Cop Movies
Sick of all the same buddy cop classics? Check out some of the "other" best buddy cop movies of all time.
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Dragnet (1987)
Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd starred in Dragnet, a broad comedy version of the deadly serious police procedural from the 1950s. It shouldn't have worked, but the odd couple pairing of two comic actors in their prime - pitted against a P.A.G.A.N. cult (People Against Goodness And Normalcy) with a fondness for goat leggings - outgrossed the smash hit RoboCop in 1987.
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The Hidden (1987)
Catching criminals in L.A. is hard enough, but when they start swapping bodies it turns into a real bitch for Flashdance's Michael Nouri, who teamed up with a pre-"Twin Peaks" (but already kooky) Kyle MacLachlan in this crowdpleasing sci-fi thriller from A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2 director Jack Sholder.
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Turner & Hooch (1989)
"Not the car!" Teaming Tom Hanks up with a dog might seem like the dumbest idea since, well, Dragnet, but the charismatic comedian helped transform Turner & Hooch into family-friendly gold in this 1989 blockbuster. Roger Spottiswoode directed, but he couldn't quite replicate his buddy cop comedy success in the abysmal Sylvester Stallone vehicle Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.
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Tango & Cash (1989)
Speaking of Sly, Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell were action royalty by the time Tango & Cash came out, pairing the neat and tidy Lt. Raymond Tango (Stallone) with the renegade Lt. Gabriel Cash (Russell) as cops framed for a crime they didn't commit. What followed is one of the goofiest films to come out of the Badass Cinema generation, but also a madcap thrillride that plays great on home video, at least.
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Split Second (1992)
Never heard of it? Tough-as-nails Rutger Hauer teams up with a by-the-books Alastair Duncan to stop a demonic serial killer in a flooded, futuristic London in a movie that's way better than it sounds. Kim Catrall co-stars, but surprisingly it's Duncan who steals the show with a psychotic chocolate binge for the ages.
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Money Train (1995)
Trying to mimic the success of 1992's White Men Can't Jump - and not quite succeeding - Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson reteamed for Money Train as foster brothers patroling the public transit system for a serial killer played by future Oscar-winner Chris Cooper. Somehow it all ends in a high speed subway heist, committed by the cops themselves. Co-starring a young Jennifer Lopez, Money Train is still a lot more satisfying than most folks give it credit for.
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The Corruptor (1999)
Chow Yun-fat's brief foray into mainstream Hollywood stardom found him teaming up with Mark Wahlberg, an undercover Internal Affairs agent investigating his charismatic but thoroughly corrupt partner. The stars are great, but The Corruptor isn't what you'd call a "great" movie, except for a bravura high-speed car chase in the middle that ranks among the best ever filmed.
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District B13 (2004)
This daredevil French import helped popularize the freerunning phenomenon parkour in mainstream action cinema, and it's easy to see why. District B13 pairs a high-kicking cop (Cyril Raffaelli) with an acrobatic criminal (parkour founder David Belle) against a criminal madman with a nuclear bomb, in a dystopian future where the slums of France are cordoned off at gunpoint. The action sequences have to be seen to be believed.
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The Guard (2011)
An underseen crime comedy from director John Michael McDonough (brother of In Bruges filmmaker Martin McDonough), The Guard stars Brendan Gleeson as a good man doing a bad job in a small Irish community, paired with a buttoned-up FBI agent played by Don Cheadle. The characters are great, the action is unexpected, and the movie is a total hoot.
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End of Watch (2012)
Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña joined forces in the dramatic, funny and thrilling cop film End of Watch, which CraveOnline called "One of the Best Movies of 2012." Both actors are at their best as believable boys in blue who get in over their heads with a criminal cartel with an axe to grind. And oh, that ending will kill you.
