BUDDY COPS (刑警兄弟) (2016)

Genre: Action/Comedy
Director: Peter Tsi
Cast: Eric Tsang, Bosco Wong, King Kong, Kate Tsui, Charmaine Fong, Lam Ka Tung, Jordan Chan, Stanley Fung, Elaine Jin, Yu On-on
Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Some Sexual References)
Released By: Shaw & Clover Films
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 21 April 2016

Synopsis: Fei and Johnny are two rookie cops, raised in single-parent families. They are constantly bickering and can’t stand the presence of each other. Not only are they loggerheads at work, their lives further intertwined when each of their parent fell crazily in love and got married! Soon, the “brothers” are assign to investigate a murder case that leads them to a big conspiracy, where hilarious happenings await.

Movie Review:

TVB actors Bosco Wong and King Kong stars in this buddy cop comedy that is more about crude gags than a proper crime story.

Produced by Eric Tsang and completed back in 2012, Buddy Cops probably exist because Tsang was part of the key personnel coordinating TVB’s annual Chinese New Year title for the big screen. And why this title was shelved for three years? Simply it’s a very bad movie akin to a low-budgeted VOD title in the States.

Chan (Bosco) and Johnny (King Kong) are two misfits in the police force who simply don’t see eye to eye. The former is a hot tempered officer who gets into one trouble after another without solving any real cases. The latter on the other hand is a mama’s boy deskbound clerk and works more as a personal assistant to his high-ranking aunt (Candice Yu). When Chan’s dad (Stanley Fung) and Johnny’s mom (Elaine Jin) becomes an item, the unlikely duo becomes instant step-siblings overnight. Will they patch up their differences and live happily ever after?

Amidst all the silly family grouses, sex/masturbation jokes and references to Japanese porn, there is a villain in the form of a Mr Hung (Gordon Lam hamming up with black nail polish) appearing in the narrative. Mr Hung might be a philanthropist and property tycoon on the surface but he is also triad connected and linked to the murder of Chan’s buddy (Jordan Chan in a fleeting cameo).

However the script by Tsang and a bunch of others prefers to throw in two love interest for our leading men, the possessive Bessie (Charmaine Fong) and Petite Princess (an unrecognizable Kate Tsui) to worsen the already noisy affair that the entire arc about Mr Hung becomes more of an afterthought.

As if to convince the audience that Buddy Cops is still an action comedy, there’s a mostly play for laughs ten minutes fight and shoot-out in the end and a crazy car chase in the opening that is pretty exhilarating if not for the dodgy CGI. The rest of the running time is divided between Chan’s childish antics and King Kong’s surprise turn as a mild-mannered guy who is constantly being bullied by the former. Veteran Lo Hoi Pang finds time to play Bessie’s dad, a seemingly powerful triad figure that appears for no reason whatsoever other than giving face to producer Eric Tsang.

It’s no surprise that the HK movie industry is still in a slum when you have junks liked Buddy Cops. If you are in the mood for some worthy HK buddy cop action thriller, perhaps classics liked Curry and Pepper and Tiger on Beat can do the job, damn even Jackie Chan’s Rush Hour franchise looks way better.

Movie Rating:

(Cheap, pointless and silly, that’s what Buddy Cops is all about)

Review by Linus Tee