Let's Be Cops - C+

Rated R, 109 minutes

Not much to it, but the laughs in "Let's Be Cops" aren't fake

I will for sure be in the minority with the engaging new buddy-buddy formula comedy "Let's Be Cops" but sometimes a silly movie comes along that will be your personal cult favorite that you can watch more than once for some cheap laughs. Yes, the plot is thin, dumb and generally ridiculous, but I found myself laughing quite a bit. It's the ultimate buddy cop movie except for one thing: they're not cops. When two struggling pals ("New Girl's" Jake Johnson and "Happy Endings'" Damon Wayans, Jr., who could easily be his comedian dad's twin) dress as police officers for a costume party, they become neighborhood sensations. But when these newly-minted "heroes" get tangled in a real life web of mobsters and dirty detectives, they must put their fake badges on the line. Directed and written by Luke Greenfield, who produced another of my personal cult favorites, "Role Models," "Let's Be Cops" is mindless, exceedingly silly and often unoriginal fun that's a cross between last summer's hit "The Heat" and the "Lethal Weapon" films, in reverse. You know where's it's going but you'll still laugh anyway, and there are a couple of scenes with Wayans (who's hilarious here as the semi-straight guy to Johnson's loose cannon) that still make me chuckle, including one when he gets in the middle of a girl catfight. Also, the movie is nearly stolen by "Keegan and Peele's" Keegan Michael-Key, as a stoner who ends up providing some unlikely help (if they make a sequel, I hope he has a bigger part); he is one of the film's funnier highlights in a movie that has many. On a refreshing note, I was pleasantly surprised by how funny "Let's Be Cops" is as well as the fact it's not as raunchy as you might think; also Andy Garcia is a nice touch though he's surprisingly underused in a brief role. Yes, the movie has flaws: the script's predictability and thin premise, immature drug humor and penchant for the word "dude" every other line, but the laughs aren't pretend, and you'll likely enjoy "Let's Be Cops" more than you're willing to admit.

Wes's Grade: C+