Best Buddy Cop Movies

Hot Fuzz

Shawn S. Lealos: There are few young filmmakers working today as interesting as Edgar Wright. I know a lot of people consider Shaun of the Dead to bee his masterpiece but I think Hot Fuzz is not only his best film but the best buddy cop movie made in a long time. It does what Shaun did and takes the genre seriously while paying respect to the movies that came before. It’s clear Wright is a student of film because he did everything right with this movie. Pegg and Frost were perfect and Timothy Dalton was spectacular. I have watched this movie more than any other in my life and it has never gotten old. The final battle in the streets was also brilliant. This movie it’s damn near perfect.

Brandon Groppi: Is there really any reason I shouldn’t pick HOT FUZZ? No? Ok. HOT FUZZ it is. Edgar Wright, I love you . . .

Derek Johns: As fantastic as the Cornetto trilogy is, Hot Fuzz is easily my favorite installment. It not only pays homage to the buddy cop genre but actually improves upon it. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost serve as the perfect yin yang for each other as the joyless supercop and his lovable but dimwitted partner. I’ve to got to say though Sandford is rivaled only by Sunnydale in terms of fictional towns I would never want to live in.

 

 Beverly Hills Cop 1 & 2

Eric Norcross: Beverly Hills Cop 1 and 2 are equally well made, entertaining cop movies. The rapport between the heroes is amazing.

 

 48 Hrs.

James Cochrane: Arguably considered the first buddy cop movie although Eddie Murphy is a convict brought out to help Nick Nolte on a case, it has all the trappings of that genre. And what a film it is, Murphy’s first film, Nick Nolte had not yet revealed to the world he was crazy, directed by THE Walter Hill. What more can one ask? What brings me back to this movie more and more is that it wasn’t traditionally funny in the way you would assume a movie with Eddie Murphy movie would be. It is dark, Murphy is a bit of a dick, he is not out to help, only to help himself and Nolte is not flustered by his antics, but naturally perturbed. Although the film came out in 1982 I consider it to still fall in the grittier cop movies that we got to see throughout the 70s; French Connection, Serpico, etc.

 

Wasabi

Ruby Le Rouge:  I love this movie, with it’s over the top hero worship friendship between straight man Hubert Fiorentini (played by Jean Reno) and his arsenal toting worshipper/partner ‘momo’ Maurice.

2 French cops in Japan on a personal mission to save Hubert’s Japanese daughter that he didn’t even know he had until the estranged love of his life dies and he hears the reading of the will. Chocked full of government conspiracy, yakuza, big guns, and general bad-assery, this is definitely my favorite.

 

Lethal Weapon 2

Caliber Winfield: While it isn’t the series that started the genre, it’s the series that defined it. The second is my favorite because we don’t have to do the set up of how everyone meets, not that I mind that, but this one literally just jumps into the action. We get Joe Pesci introduced into the series as Leo Getz, because whatever you want, Leo gets, get it? Becoming a fantastic third wheel. Then on the flip-side of the light-heartedness, we get the bad guys. Nazis. Are there any greater bad-guys than Nazis? I say no. These ones are some brutal dudes too, murdering cops by the boatload and drowning innocent people, so when Riggs finally loses his shit, you’re stoked to see him do some major damage, and he delivers without fail.

A fantastic series with this one being the standout entry for me.

 

Bad Boys 2

John “D-Rock” Dotson: I was going to pick Hot Fuzz… but because even that movie honored the greatness of Bad Boys 2…. I have to say Bad Boys 2. As horrible as Michael Bay can be at times, Bad Boys 2 is one of those action films that I believe is above the world of anal criticism. It’s just trying to entertain the audience. Is it a big dumb action movie? Well, of course! This is one of the best ones around though. The film is full of memorable humor, especially from Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. The action pieces are jaw dropping, including a car chase sequence on a bridge which was filmed entirely using practical effects. Even the cinematography is stellar for a movie such as this. Bad Boys 2 may be absurd and ridiculous, but I love this action film, and I don’t feel bad for admitting this.