The buddy-cop movie is one of the sturdiest genres in Hollywood, in part because it provides a reliable template on which it’s fairly easy to put a slightly different spin, even as the whole package remains familiar.
Take two mismatched partners who are forced to work together to overcome life-or-death stakes, and voilá, box-office gold! It worked in “Lethal Weapon,” “Men in Black,” “The Heat” and dozens of others.
Here are five classics of the genre:
Most original: “In the Heat of the Night” (1967)
This thriller — teaming Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier as lawmen investigating a murder in a Southern town — is often credited with launching the buddy-cop genre.
Most surprising: “21 Jump Street” (2012)
Audiences no doubt feared another tired reboot of a 1980s TV property, but somehow, this comedy — starring the unlikely duo of Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill — delivered the laughs.
Most depraved: “Training Day” (2001)
This one took the clichéd grizzled vet-rookie cop dynamic to a new, darker level. In one unsettling scene, corrupt detective Denzel Washington hands newbie Ethan Hawke a pipe and forces him at gunpoint to smoke it. “I didn’t know you liked to get wet,” Washington says, revealing he gave his partner PCP.
Most underappreciated: “Hot Fuzz” (2007)
In this hilarious, often overlooked sendup of cop films from director Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost play small-town English constables battling a supernatural foe.
Most quotable: “Rush Hour” (1998)
Like “Austin Powers,” it’s the movie that launched a thousand catchphrases, including Chris Tucker screaming to partner Jackie Chan, “Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?” and, “Don’t you ever touch a black man’s radio, boy.”