One of the best action genres in Hollywood history is the buddy cop genre. What makes this such a beloved subgenre of cop movie is that it takes two mismatched partners, often making them characters who don’t get along and are opposite in personalities, but who can’t survive without each other. Having the two cops go into action with differing belief systems or ideas on how to solve problems creates conflict beyond the villains.
These movies saw their rise in popularity in the 1980s, with stars like Nick Nolte, Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover, and Mel Gibson mastering the genre and creating the template that all other movies later followed. Directors like Walter Hill, Richard Donner, Edgar Wright, Phil Lord, and Christopher Miller took the genre and shaped it into different forms, from action movies and thrillers to comedies.
These buddy cop movies live and die by the chemistry between the two lead stars and how watchable the film is because of their relationship, which is even more important than the gunfights, car chases, and explosions. The best of these result in franchises, and the most beloved often live on as single-outing movies that remain classics to this day.
10
Tango & Cash (1989)
In Tango & Cash, Sylvester Stallone plays Lt. Ray Tango and Kurt Russell plays Lt. Gabriel Cash, two rival LAPD narcotics detectives framed for murder by crime lord Yves Perret. They then have to team up after being thrown in prison. The characters are deliberate opposites, with Tango as a wealthy, impeccably suited, glasses-wearing, uptight cop, while Cash is the scruffier, wisecracking, streetwise cop.
Jack Palance is excellent as the villain, Yves Perret, and the movie has a lot of memorable moments, which is impressive considering the film had to change directors midway through. There is even a great moment of humor when someone compares Tango to “Rambo,” and Tango mocks Stallone’s more famous movie character. The movie escalates into deliberate over-the-top absurdity, and later reappraisals label it an underappreciated buddy cop movie.
9
Red Heat (1988)
Red Heat remains an interesting buddy cop movie from the 1980s since it was released during a decade where the Cold War was still a tense situation between the United States and Russia. In this film, Arnold Schwarzenegger plays disciplined Moscow militia Captain Ivan Danko, and Jim Belushi plays wisecracking Chicago detective Art Ridzik. They are forced to partner up to catch a Georgian drug kingpin.
The film plays off Schwarzenegger’s rigid, humorless Soviet cop playing up against Belushi’s loose, undisciplined American detective. The film was directed, co-written, and co-produced by Walter Hill, who also made 48 Hrs., one of the genre’s seminal movies. It holds a 67% Rotten Tomatoes score, with a consensus praising Walter Hill’s direction and control of the humor.
8
The Heat (2013)
Heat is a buddy cop movie that subverted expectations by having the two cops be women in a genre that is typically dominated by male actors. However, the format remains the same. Sandra Bullock plays uptight, by-the-book FBI Special Agent Sarah Ashburn, and Melissa McCarthy plays foul-mouthed, unorthodox Boston detective Shannon Mullins. They are forced to team up to take down a drug lord.
The opposites attract dynamic here has Ashburn as polished, ambitious, and socially isolated, while Mullins is crude, aggressive, and emotionally raw. It holds a 66% Rotten Tomatoes score, with a consensus that McCarthy is funny and Bullock is great playing off her. The Heat remains a landmark buddy cop film thanks to the gender-flipping premise.
7
21 Jump Street (2012)
Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, 21 Jump Street was a shocking success because it was an adaptation of an old 1980s TV show about cops going undercover in a high school as students. In this version, Jonah Hill plays Schmidt and Channing Tatum plays Jenko, two young cops sent undercover as high school students to bust a synthetic-drug ring and find its supplier.
The buddy cop dynamics here play strong because the two cops take on the personas of the popular jock (Jenko) and the social outcast (Schmidt), and they struggle to keep up these personas in a high school atmosphere. The film leans on knowing genre self-parody, openly mocking buddy-cop and reboot clichés, including a running gag about their guns not exploding on cue. It is also known for a cameo by the former TV show’s star, Johnny Depp.
6
The Other Guys (2010)
Directed and co-written by Adam McKay, The Other Guys is a hilarious buddy cop movie that stars Will Ferrell as desk-bound forensic accountant Detective Allen Gamble and Mark Wahlberg as hot-tempered Detective Terry Hoitz. They are mismatched NYPD partners who stumble onto a major financial conspiracy. The movie opens with a shocking moment as two super-cops (Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson) die when they jump off a building while pursuing criminals.
That sets the mood for the movie, and it leads to Gamble and Hoitz being forced to work together while trying to deal with their personal issues (Hoitz has serious anger management problems and Gamble is a former pimp in his past life). It holds a 78% Rotten Tomatoes score and stands out for its impeccable comedy moments, with Michael Keaton as a scene stealer as their TLC-quoting captain.
5
Rush Hour (1998)
In 1998, Brett Ratner enjoyed his breakout moment as a director with the buddy cop movie Rush Hour. What made this movie such a success was the dynamic between Chinese martial arts star Jackie Chan and over-the-top comedy actor Chris Tucker. Chan plays Hong Kong Police Chief Inspector Lee, and Tucker plays LAPD Detective James Carter, forced to work together to rescue a Chinese diplomat’s kidnapped daughter.
The contrast is both cultural and stylistic, as Chan’s reserved, martial-arts-trained, physically precise cop plays well against Tucker’s loud, fast-talking, wisecracking American detective. The film blends Chan’s self-performed stunts and physical comedy with Tucker’s fast-talking verbal comedy, a fusion that explains the movie’s appeal.
4
48 Hrs. (1982)
The movie that defined the modern-day buddy cop comedy arrived in 1982 with 48 Hrs. This was released when Eddie Murphy was finding his place in Hollywood after his breakout stint on Saturday Night Live, and it was one of his first major box office successes. Nick Nolte plays hard-nosed San Francisco cop Jack Cates, and Eddie Murphy plays wisecracking convict Reggie Hammond, temporarily released into Cates’ custody to help catch a cop-killer within a 48-hour window.
That is what also helps 48 Hrs. stand out from other movies, because while it is a buddy cop movie at heart, only one of the characters is a cop and the other is a convicted criminal. This subverts the formula, with Cates the gruff veteran and Hammond the slick, fast-talking outsider. The film is widely credited as effectively launching the modern buddy cop genre that Beverly Hills Cop, Lethal Weapon, and Rush Hour would follow.
3
Bad Boys (1995)
Michael Bay directed Bad Boys in 1995 and delivered one of the most explosive, high-octane buddy cop movies ever made. Will Smith plays the suave, arrogant Detective Mike Lowrey and Martin Lawrence plays married family-man Detective Marcus Burnett, two Miami narcotics cops chasing $100 million in stolen heroin. These cops like each other, but they can’t be any more different.
This was a form that Lethal Weapon grew into, as both men have great respect and brotherhood for each other, but they are also as different as they can be. Smith and Lawrence’s comic timing and chemistry were what made the film shine, and this cemented Smith as a rising action star and Lawrence as a comedy action hero.
2
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Hot Fuzz is an anomaly because it satirizes buddy cop movies, but never insults the genre and plays everything straight, with the laughs coming in the winking moments of the dialogue. Simon Pegg plays hyper-intense London police officer Sergeant Nicholas Angel, reassigned to the village of Sandford, and Nick Frost plays his action-movie-obsessed partner PC Danny Butterman, a man who wants to do what real cops do (gunfights, car chases, ect.).
Angel is intense, rule-bound, and humorless, while Danny is lazy, sweet-natured, and desperate for real action-movie heroics. This pays off when Angel realizes that all the accidental deaths in Sandford were committed by locals wanting to keep their village’s image pure. By the end, Butterman gets all the gunfights and car chases he can handle, and this ends up as a brilliant love letter to the buddy cop genre.
1
Lethal Weapon (1987)
The most successful and beloved buddy cop franchise in history is Lethal Weapon. Released in 1987 and directed by Richard Donner with a script by Shane Black, Mel Gibson plays Martin Riggs, a suicidal LAPD detective devastated by his wife’s death, and Danny Glover plays Roger Murtaugh, a stable 50-year-old family man forced to partner with Riggs.
Riggs is reckless, unstable, and has nothing to lose, while Murtaugh is cautious, settled, and famously “too old for this sh*t.” The film redefined the buddy-cop formula by grounding the action in genuine emotional stakes and a damaged-partner dynamic. This is not a comedy, but it is a dramatic action movie with two mismatched partners learning how to save each other.
