25 Funniest Buddy Cop Movies

Police Academy (1984)

The Buddy Cops: Instead of jail time, criminal prankster, Carey Mahoney (Steve Guttenberg) joins the police academy to continue his silliness spree, where he finds a companion in human beatbox genius, Larvell Jones (Michael Winslow.)

Funniest Moment: Mahoney walks in on Jones struggling to shave with a murderous razor that’s trying to kill him.

Team America: World Police (2004)

The Buddy Cops: Idiotic Broadway star Gary Johnston (Trey Parker) is recruited into Team America, an anti-terrorism unit alongside five highly skilled specialists including the no-nonsense, Chris (Matt Stone), who despises all actors.

Funniest Moment: Chris’s initial warning to Gary: “Let's get one thing straight, actor. I don't trust you. And if you betray us, I'll rip your fucking balls off and stuff them up your ass so that the next time you shit, you'll shit all over your balls, got it?”

Stakeout (1987)

The Buddy Cops: Detective Chris Lecce (Richard Dreyfus) is the wise-crackin’ veteran cop who proves his professionalism by falling for a woman under their protection. His younger partner, Bill Reimers (Emilio Estevez) is a bit of a stick in the mud who plays it straight.

Funniest Moment: Reimers reads from the police report on Maria McGuire, the woman whose house they’re staking out; “And the moment we’ve all been waiting for... 313 pounds!” This sparks Lecce’s un-PC response - “Oh my god! She could BE the house! I hate this job.”

Superbad (2009)

The Buddy Cops: The biggest buffoons to ever protect and serve, Officer Slater (Bill Hader) and Officer Michaels (Seth Rogen) view their jobs as a preventative method for having to grow up.

Funniest Moment: The pair are impressed by an I.D. so undeniably fake, their dour faces become as perky as kittens when they note the name on the card, McLovin; and take the youngster under their wing for the night.

Proof of their professionalism comes when McLovin asks Michaels, what’s it like to have a gun? “It's like having two cocks. If one of your cocks could kill someone.”

The Other Guys (2010)

The Buddy Cops: A slave to his desk tidy, Allen Gamble (Will Ferrell) soon forgets his highlighters when he and his partner Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg), an enforcer whose anger management issues rival those of every Adam Sandler character, catch a break on a big case.

Funniest Moment: Hoitz’s insult when he learns he’s being teamed with paper pusher, Gamble:

"The sound of your piss hitting the urinal, it sounds feminine. If we were in the wild, I would attack you. Even if you weren't in my food chain, I would go out of my way to attack you. If I were a lion and you were a tuna, I would swim out in the middle of the ocean and freakin' eat you!"

Rush Hour (1998)

The Buddy Cops: Spritely detective inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) - flown to the US to track down the kidnapped daughter of a Chinese diplomat - is palmed off on mouthy LAPD cop James Carter (Chris Tucker), whose special technique to crush the culture barrier is to speak slowly. In a loud, irritating voice.

Funniest Moment: Lee’s threat to Carter when they’re nabbed by the baddies; “I’ll bitch slap you back to Africa!”

48 Hrs (1982)

The Buddy Cops: As a last resort, old school Detective Sergeant Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) springs smooth criminal Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy) from the pen to help him track down two cop-killers. In 48 hours.

Funniest Moment: Chasing down a lead at local bar Torchy’s, Reggie, high on the authority given via his get-out-of-jail card frisks the patrons: “And I want the rest of you cowboys to know something, there's a new sheriff in town. And his name is Reggie Hammond. So y'all be cool. Right on.”

Men In Black (1997)

The Buddy Cops: Gruff veteran of the extraterrestrial police force, Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) recruits quick-witted whippersnapper Agent J (Will Smith) to give him someone to grumble at.

Funniest Moment: J’s first experience with the Neuralizer, an eraser wand that enables MIB agents to wipe then rewrite people’s memories.

Agent K provides one woman with a rather lacklustre backstory (“Beatrice, there was no alien. The flash of light you saw in the sky was not a UFO. Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus”) so Agent J gets her groove back, re-writing her romantic foibles; “And now that he's gone you're gonna go into town, you go to Bloomingdale's and find some nice dresses, get yourself some shoes, you know, find somewhere, maybe you can get a facial. And, uh, oh - hire a decorator to come in here quick, 'cause... DAMN.“

21 Jump Street (2012)

The Buddy Cops: Old high school buddies, Morton Schmidt (Jonah Hill) is the overachieving dweeb partnered with brawny jock Greg Jenko (Channing Tatum)

Funniest Moment: The two take down a crew of drug dealers in a park, with Jenko threatening them with the repeated mantra “Would you like me to beat your dick off?” as Schmidt attempts to over-explain his partner’s intended meaning “I think what he means is....”

The Naked Gun: From The Files Of Police Squad! (1988)

The Buddy Cops: On a mission to investigate the shooting of his partner, bumbling buffoon, Lt. Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) ends up paired with the equally inept Captain Ed. Hocken (George Kennedy).

Funniest Moment: The two attend a reception to welcome Queen Elizabeth II with reason to believe she may be assassinated so commence frisking patrons. Hocken holds the unsuspecting man’s arms up as Drebin searches his pockets... reaching too far and delving into the Captain’s jacket by mistake.

As the man protests his innocence, Drebin fishes out a gun, then flips open a wallet containing a photo of Hocken’s wife; “He’s got a gun!....and a picture of your wife!” Hocken takes one glance at the picture, and cries “Ethel!” before punching the poor guy.

Gem Seddon

Gem Seddon is GamesRadar+'s west coast Entertainment News Reporter, working to keep all of you updated on all of the latest and greatest movies and shows on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Outside of entertainment journalism, Gem can frequently be found writing about the alternative health and wellness industry, and obsessing over all things Aliens and Terminator on Twitter.