This film had potential to be much funnier, but just couldn’t put together the right formula. While Jake Johnson was fairly consistently entertaining, Damon Wayans, Jr. was the weak link in this buddy comedy. While showing hints of the same comedy chops that made his father famous, he is asked to play somewhat of a straight man throughout the film. This causes many of his sillier attempts at humor seem out of place. Overall his character is inconsistent. He’s wild and crazy for one scene and then straight and narrow for the next. The rest of the supporting cast is nothing special. Nina Dobrev’s role as the love interest never has a chance to have any solid chemistry with Wayans, not is she given enough screen time. James D’Arcy does what he can in his brief role as the main villain, while the normally funny Rob Riggle isn’t given a chance to do any comedy. An unimportant child side-kick comes and goes and a few other characters pop-up and are just never all that funny. The story isn’t bad, but takes an odd direction late, while missing out on many chances for much funnier sequences while the leads are pretending to be cops.
** out of *****