Justin (Damon Wayans Jr.) is a video game developer. For his latest pitch, Justin has an idea for a video game where the player is a police officer. When that gets shot down, Justin takes some of his props, police uniforms included home. His roommate, Ryan (Jake Johnson), who isn’t satisfied with where he is in life, suggests they wear the uniforms to a costume party.

After the party, Ryan doesn’t want to give up the uniform. Justin, fed up with his corporate job, reluctantly joins him for an adventure or two. Ryan starts taking his new “career” seriously, studying up on police procedures and responding to calls before the real cops can get there. He isn’t afraid to abuse his new power, either. Justin isn’t as excited about this game as Ryan.

Justin and Ryan put themselves in the middle of a serious case. With help and equipment from Officer Segars (Rob Riggle), a real cop, they uncover more information about Mossi (James D’Arcy), the crazy head of a local Albanian mob. They quickly realize things are bigger than they expected and that they are in over their heads.

When I first watched the trailer for Let’s Be Cops, I didn’t have the highest of expectations, despite being a fan of Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr. Luckily, my dread was quickly put aside.

If you watch New Girl, you know that Johnson and Wayans Jr. work well together. They continue their hilarious chemistry in this buddy cop movie. Adding Rob Riggle to the mix makes things even funnier.

The story is a bit out there. Realistically, how could these two inept schlubs get away posing as cops and never get caught? Especially with the way they abuse their authority, you would think someone would report them. Fortunately, no one thinks twice about these two as cops. Otherwise it would have been a really short movie.

The extent that they take advantage of their position and their ineptitude are primarily what makes Let’s Be Cops funny. They also rely on heavy use of the f-bomb. Which may be gratuitous, but it doesn’t take away from anything. I think it just guaranteed the movie would get a hard R rating, to make sure it was aimed at their target audience.

Don’t let the premise scare you. It’s an ok story told in a funnier than expected way, with a great cast. If you’re a fan of Damon Wayans Jr. and/or Jake Johnson, you definitely won’t be disappointed.

One side note, if you get the urge to watch the deleted scenes, stop yourself. There are a bunch and they’re not as funny as the rest of the movie (except for the one with Wayans twerking). Just let the movie stand as is and you’ll be fine.