Rolling Stone - USA (2020-02)

February 2020 | Rolling Stone | 23

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BY THE BOOK

WILD CARDS

The Buddy-Cop Matrix

In honor of ‘Bad Boys for Life’ — Michael Bay’s new entry into the esteemed canon of

police-friendship cinema — we charted the best uniformed duos in film. The criteria: the

unlikeliness of each pairing, and their willingness to bend the rules By ANNA PEELE

Jackie Chan and

Chris Tucker, Rush Hour, 1998

Physically dexterous Chinese detective

+ verbally dexterous LAPD detective

Ethan Hawke and

Denzel Washington,

Training Day, 2001

Lightly goateed idealist +

heavily goateed crook

Mel Gibson

and Danny Glover,

Lethal Weapon, 1987

Violent, depressed

sergeant + sergeant

who coined the

phrase “I’m getting

too old for

this shit”

Nick Nolte and

Eddie Murphy,

48 Hours, 1982

Curmudgeonly

inspector +

conscripted

convict

Adam Driver and

John David Washington,

BlacKkKlansman, 2018

Jewish cop infiltrating

the KKK + black cop infiltrating

the KKK

Channing Tatum

and Jonah Hill,

21 Jump Street,

2012, 2014

Athletic buffoon

+ book-smart

buffoon

Nicholas Cage and

Sean Connery, The Rock, 1996

Genius FBI chemist + intelligence and

jail-breaking expert

Will Smith and

Martin Lawrence,

Bad Boys,

1995, 2003, 2020

Charming,

single hometown

detective + charming,

married hometown

detective

Melissa McCarthy and

Sandra Bullock, The Heat, 2013

Slob-kabob detective

+ stickler FBI agent

Simon Pegg and

Nick Frost,

Hot Fuzz, 2007

High-achieving constable

+ constable who is

a fan of buddy-cop

movies

Will Smith and Tommy

Lee Jones, Men in Black,

1997, 2002, 2012

Excitable extraterrestrial

agent + low-affect

extraterrestrial agent

Brad Pitt

and Morgan

Freeman,

Se7en, 1995

Wrathful young

detective +

placid elder

detective

Emily Blunt and Daniel

Kaluuya, Sicario, 2015

Naive FBI agent + uncorrupt-

but-more-appropriately-

cynical FBI agent

Sidney Poitier and

Rod Steiger, In the Heat

of the Night, 1967

Unimpeachable black police

officer + relatively not-

so-racist (but still definitely

racist) police chief

Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider,

The French Connection, 1971

Obsessive narcotics detective +

narcotics detective obsessed

with his partner

Jeff Bridges and

Gil Birmingham,

Hell or High

Water, 2016

Texas ranger who’s

not quite ready to

retire + Texas ranger

with one foot out

the door

Ice Cube and

Kevin Hart,

Ride Along,

2014

Protective

detective + skittish

security guard

Tom Hanks and Beasley,

Turner & Hooch, 1989

Human with doglike enthusiasm

and loyalty + dog

Will Ferrell

and Mark Wahlberg,

The Other Guys,

2010

Flaccid detective

+ throbbing

detective

Willem Dafoe

and Gene Hackman,

Mississippi

Burning, 1988

Calm yankee FBI

agent + rootin’,

tootin’, yeehawin’

FBI agent