The 5 Best & 5 Worst BuddyCop Duos In Movies Ranked

The 5 Best & 5 Worst Buddy-Cop Duos In Movies, Ranked

Buddy-cop movies can be thoroughly enjoyable thanks to their leading characters. These 10 duos rank as the best and worst.

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Though the buddy cop film is full of the same stereotypes and cliches as most action films, the subgenre is still beloved by audiences because of the timeless entertainment value inherent to its basic premises; two people with wildly contrasting personalities forced to work as a team, end up solving a crime and learning something about each other along the way.

There have been dozens of combinations of hard-nosed veteran cops paired with streetwise rookies, but the difference between the best buddy cop duos and the worst often falls to the chemistry between the two leads. While the films will provide the perfect vehicle for two likable and charismatic actors to play off one another, they need to complement – not compete with – one another.

10 BEST: AGENTS J AND K (MEN IN BLACK)

When it comes the classic stereotypical pairing of the no-nonsense by-the-book investigator pairing with the carefree and streetwise rookie, it doesn’t get much better than Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) and Agent J (Will Smith) in Men In Black.

The only thing better than watching them hunt down extraterrestrial fugitives on Earth is watching them grow closer as friends. The rest of the films in the franchise never quite managed to capture the magic of the first because the chemistry between the two leads is just out of this world.

9 WORST: SARAH ASHBURN AND SHANNON MULLINS (THE HEAT)

The anticipated pairing of Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy should have led to a buddy-cop film that saw a return to Bullock’s comedic roots and maximized McCarthy’s growing popularity. Instead, The Heat brought anything but its namesake.

As FBI Special Agent Sarah Ashburn, Bullock wasn’t even as funny when she played the same character in Miss Congeniality, and her arrogance as a no-nonsense investigator was overbearing. As the crass and contrasting detective Shannon Mullins, McCarthy was supposed to be streetwise but just came off as thuggish. Less believable than them catching a drug lord was them eventually becoming best buds.

8 BEST: JOE FRIDAY AND PEP STREEBECK (DRAGNET)

A cinematic dream team of epic proportions, Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks pair up as detectives Joe Friday and Pep Streebeck in Dragnet, a buddy cop film to end all others. Aykroyd was born to play the role of Friday, with his mile-a-minute recitations of polysyllabic dialogue among the film’s (and his career’s) best sequences.

Hanks is at his affable best, charming and sincere as the casual Streebeck who can’t understand why Friday is so married to the rule book. They team up to fight P.A.G.A.N., aka the People Against Goodness and Normalcy, and hilarity ensures.

7 WORST: RAY TANGO AND GABE CASH (TANGO AND CASH)

One would think the screen wouldn’t be big enough to handle the star power of Kurt Russell and Sylvester Stallone teaming up for a buddy cop film, but even their square-jawed charisma wouldn’t be enough to save Tango and Cash.

Stallone plays Ray Tango, a stuffy cop (we know this because he’s the one wearing glasses) to the energetic and reckless Gabe Cash (Russell), both paired up to bring down notorious drug kingpin Yves Perret (a dastardly Jack Palance). Even with likable talent, the leads do the one thing that should never be done in a buddy cop film – try to steal each other’s limelight instead of working together.

6 BEST: AXEL FOLEY AND BILLY ROSEWOOD (BEVERLY HILLS COP)

One of the most famous buddy cop pairings in cinema history occurred when Detroit cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) team up with Beverly Hills police officer Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold), along with the creation of one of the most famous theme songs.

Foley heads to Beverly Hills, California hot on the trail of whoever murdered his childhood friend, suspecting that art dealer Victor Maitland (Steven Berkoff) might be behind it. A begrudging Rosewood helps him out, and the wise-cracking banter between the two carries the film (and Murphy’s career).

5 WORST: TREAT WILLIAMS AND JOE PISCOPO (DEAD HEAT)

A horror, sci-fi, and buddy-cop movie all rolled into one, Dead Heat had too many genres to juggle. Starring Treat Williams as dutiful LAPD officer Roger Mortis and Joe Piscopo as his brash partner Doug Bigelow, the movie begins with Mortis chasing down bank robbers only to realize too late that they’re zombies and get bit.

They don’t eat him, and because he manages to remain somewhat “stable” in his undead state, he teams up with Bigelow to track down the center of the zombie crime ring (led by none other than horror icon Vincent Price). Unfortunately, it’s not so bad it’s good, it’s just bad.

4 BEST: NICHOLAS ANGEL AND DANIEL BUTTERMAN (HOT FUZZ)

In both a hilarious spoof of buddy cop films and British village mystery capers, Hot Fuzz combines several genres to present a vehicle for one of the best partnerships of all time. Simon Pegg portrays by-the-book Nicholas Angel, formerly of the London PD, transferred to a small West County village.

Hating the bucolic bumpkin lifestyle, he misses the excitement of urban police work, especially when he gets paired with sunny Daniel Butterman (Nick Frost), the police chief’s son. But the two officers make a fine team investigating the bizarre murders happening in the village. They make such a great team in part because Pegg and Frost are best buds in real life.

3 WORST: ART RIDZIC AND IVAN DANCO (RED HEAT)

When a Russian drug lord kills both a hard-nosed Soviet cop’s partner as well as a foul-mouthed American’s, you get the recipe for Red Heat, the cumbersome buddy cop comedy starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Belushi.

On paper, it probably looked like a solid pairing, considering Schwarzenegger’s star was on the rise in the late ’80s, and Belushi had been getting even bigger notoriety since the death of his brother earlier in the decade. Unfortunately, their onscreen chemistry was as icy as Moscow Square in Spring.

2 BEST: RIGGS AND MURTAUGH (LETHAL WEAPON)

The buddy cop duo that needs no introduction is Riggs and Murtaugh, played by Danny Glover and Mel Gibson respectively, the pairing behind the hit Lethal Weapon series. Glover plays Murtaugh as by the book but burnt out, and Gibson plays Riggs as reckless enough to be suicidal.

In the first film, Murtaugh has lost his thrill for police work, and Riggs has lost his thrill of life after his wife’s death. Forced to work together to bust a drug ring, they couldn’t be more opposite and more perfect for one another. As the film franchise went on, they became the best of friends.

1 WORST: MARCUS COPELAND AND KEVIN COPELAND (WHITE CHICKS)

There are a few good gags to be had in this film grafted together with pieces of Some Like It Hot and Bad Boys, but aside from the jokes that land it’s one embarrassing misfire after another from Waynes Brothers Shawn and Marlon.

Playing two FBI agents (also brothers) who bungled a drug bust, they’re tasked with protecting two socialites at the Hamptons while they’re used as kidnapper bait. The socialites refuse to participate, leaving the brothers with the only obvious choice – assume the identities of the aforesaid women.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/best-worst-buddy-cop-movie-duos-ranked/

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