Super Troopers 3 arrives in theaters on August 7, bringing the Broken Lizard crew back to the highway 25 years after their original cult comedy. The first Super Troopers was made for under $3 million and earned approximately $23 million theatrically before finding an even larger audience through home video and streaming.
That longevity is a useful reminder that reviews and opening-weekend numbers do not always determine which comedies survive. Crime movies are especially dependent on chemistry. The mystery can be predictable, and the villains do not necessarily need to be threatening, provided the people wearing the badges are funny enough to make the investigation worth following.
The genre’s biggest hits remain easy to name. Beverly Hills Cop, The Naked Gun, Rush Hour, and Hot Fuzz are still treated as standards. Other cop comedies delivered equally memorable partnerships or found stranger ways to disrupt the familiar buddy-movie formula, only to fade behind more successful franchises.
Some of these movies were modest hits that rarely receive attention anymore. Others were punished by critics for being too broad, too dark, or simply too ridiculous. Presented in release order, these are 10 hilarious cop movies that never received all the credit they deserved.
Running Scared (1986)
- Release Date
-
June 27, 1986
- Runtime
-
107 Minutes
- Director
-
Peter Hyams
-
-
Billy Crystal
Danny Costanzo
Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines play Chicago detectives Danny Costanzo and Ray Hughes, whose planned retirement to Key West is interrupted by drug dealer Julio Gonzales. The case gives Running Scared its action, but the movie is really powered by two exhausted partners imagining a warmer life while continuing to argue their way through dangerous situations.
Crystal and Hines have the loose chemistry of people who have spent years irritating each other. Their jokes rarely feel like dialogue waiting for a punch line. Director Peter Hyams also gives them a legitimate action movie, including a memorable chase along Chicago’s elevated train tracks. The film earned $38.5 million domestically, yet it rarely appears beside the era’s better-known buddy-cop movies.
Dragnet (1987)
- Release Date
-
June 23, 1987
- Runtime
-
106 Minutes
- Director
-
Tom Mankiewicz
Dan Aykroyd plays the painfully formal Joe Friday, whose strict devotion to procedure is tested when he is partnered with Tom Hanks’ considerably less restrained Pep Streebek. Their investigation leads from petty crimes to a strange organization known as P.A.G.A.N., which appears to be planning something much larger than the detectives initially expect.
Dragnet respects the straight-faced television series while turning its rigid style into the joke. Aykroyd commits completely to Friday’s clipped delivery, leaving Hanks to push against him with a more relaxed performance. The movie was commercially successful, earning more than $57 million domestically, but its peculiar blend of parody and large-scale studio comedy has kept it from becoming a lasting favorite.
Dead Heat (1988)
- Release Date
-
May 6, 1988
- Runtime
-
86 minutes
- Director
-
Mark Goldblatt
- Writers
-
Terry Black
- Producers
-
David Helpern
-
Joe Piscopo
Det. Doug Bigelow
-
Treat Williams
Det. Roger Mortis
-
Lindsay Frost
Randi James
-
Darren McGavin
Dr. Ernest McNab
Treat Williams and Joe Piscopo star as Los Angeles detectives Roger Mortis and Doug Bigelow in Dead Heat. While investigating a series of robberies committed by criminals who should already be dead, Mortis is killed inside a laboratory. He is revived by the same technology responsible for the crime spree but has limited time to solve his own murder.
The premise sounds like an elaborate pun, and the movie proudly treats it that way. Williams plays the newly undead detective with weary restraint, while Piscopo supplies the louder buddy-cop energy. The practical creature effects become increasingly grotesque as the investigation continues. Dead Heat was too comedic for horror audiences and far too strange for mainstream action fans, but that collision is precisely what makes it memorable.
The Hard Way (1991)
- Release Date
-
March 8, 1991
- Runtime
-
111 minutes
- Director
-
John Badham
- Writers
-
Daniel Pyne
- Producers
-
Michael Kozoll
Michael J. Fox plays Nick Lang, a successful action star desperate to prove he can handle a serious dramatic role. He arranges to shadow New York detective John Moss, played by James Woods, who is pursuing a theatrical serial killer known as the Party Crasher. Moss understandably wants nothing to do with the actor assigned to follow him.
Fox weaponizes his likability by making Nick enthusiastic enough to become unbearable. Woods responds with genuine fury, creating an odd-couple relationship that becomes funnier as Nick’s attempts to help interfere with the case. The Hard Way also allows its action sequences to carry real danger, preventing the movie from becoming a simple Hollywood satire. Its reputation remains much smaller than its two central performances deserve.
Blue Streak (1999)
Martin Lawrence stars as jewel thief Miles Logan, who hides a valuable diamond inside a construction site before his arrest. After leaving prison, he discovers that the unfinished building has become a police station. Miles poses as a detective to recover the diamond, only to prove unexpectedly skilled at solving crimes while maintaining the deception.
The premise gives Lawrence room to shift between panic and ridiculous confidence. Luke Wilson provides an effective contrast as the earnest Detective Carlson, who believes Miles is an experienced officer sent to teach him. Critics largely dismissed Blue Streak, but audiences responded to Lawrence’s performance and helped turn it into a sizable box-office success. It remains one of his most rewatchable starring vehicles.
Super Troopers (2001)
The Vermont state troopers in Super Troopers spend more time inventing roadside games than maintaining public safety. Their routine is threatened when the state considers closing their station, placing them in competition with a nearby local police department. A drug-smuggling investigation finally gives the troopers an opportunity to prove they are capable of doing their jobs.
Broken Lizard’s advantage was already visible in the group’s first major success: the cast had the chemistry of friends who had been making each other laugh for years. The plot is secondary to their timing and commitment to every absurd bit. Critics were not particularly impressed, but the movie’s quotability transformed a small comedy into a franchise that is returning for a third installment.
Hollywood Homicide (2003)
Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett play LAPD detectives Joe Gavilan and K.C. Calden, who investigate the murder of a rising rap group. Neither man is entirely focused on police work. Gavilan is trying to rescue a failing real estate deal, while Calden teaches yoga and dreams of becoming an actor.
Ron Shelton directs the movie as though its central case is constantly being interrupted by the leads’ more pressing personal problems. Ford is especially funny when Gavilan takes business calls during chases or attempts to close a property sale while under fire. Hollywood Homicide struggled at the box office and received poor reviews, but its distracted detectives make it stranger and more entertaining than its reputation suggests.
Starsky & Hutch (2004)
Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson take over the famous television partnership in Starsky & Hutch, which reimagines the detectives’ first case together. Starsky is intensely committed to police work, while Hutch treats the rules as flexible suggestions. Their investigation leads to Reese Feldman, a drug dealer played by Vince Vaughn who has developed a new form of cocaine.
Director Todd Phillips does not treat the source material as sacred. The comedy comes from making Starsky desperately uncool and allowing Hutch to behave more like a criminal than many of the people they arrest. Snoop Dogg is perfectly cast as Huggy Bear, while Will Ferrell delivers a wonderfully strange cameo. The movie performed well, but it rarely gets mentioned among its stars’ best comedies.
Reno 911!: Miami (2007)
The Reno Sheriff’s Department travels to Florida for a national police convention in Reno 911!: Miami. After the other officers are incapacitated, Reno’s least qualified law-enforcement team becomes responsible for protecting the city. Their sudden authority produces exactly the level of competence viewers of the television series would expect.
The mockumentary format allows Thomas Lennon, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Niecy Nash, Cedric Yarbrough, and the rest of the cast to turn failed police work into loosely controlled improvisation. The movie received poor reviews, but it captures the show’s willingness to let a scene become increasingly uncomfortable before finding the joke. Its 84-minute runtime also prevents the chaos from wearing out its welcome.
The Guard (2011)
- Release Date
-
July 7, 2011
Cast
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Brendan Gleeson
Sergeant Gerry Boyle
-
FBI agent Wendell Everett
-
Liam Cunningham
Francis Sheehy
-
Mark Strong
Clive Cornell
Brendan Gleeson plays Gerry Boyle, an Irish police officer whose methods immediately frustrate FBI agent Wendell Everett, played by Don Cheadle. The two are forced to work together when an international drug-smuggling operation reaches Boyle’s small community. Everett expects cooperation and professionalism, neither of which Boyle seems particularly interested in providing.
Writer-director John Michael McDonagh uses the buddy-cop structure to disguise a darker crime comedy. Gleeson keeps Boyle difficult to read, leaving both Everett and the audience unsure whether he is incompetent, corrupt, or far more observant than he appears. The Guard earned strong reviews, yet it never reached the mainstream audience its sharp dialogue and central partnership deserved.
