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25 Best Buddy Cop Movies of All Time
Two cops. One mission. Maximum entertainment.
Updated March 23, 2026 · ThumbScore Editorial
1Lethal Weapon (1987)Mel Gibson's unhinged energy meets Danny Glover's "too old for this." The template for every buddy cop film since.
2Hot Fuzz (2007)Edgar Wright's love letter to action movies set in a sleepy English village. Gets better with every rewatch.
3Bad Boys (1995)Will Smith and Martin Lawrence bicker their way through a drug bust. Pure 90s action swagger.
4Rush Hour (1998)Jackie Chan's martial arts meets Chris Tucker's motor mouth. The chemistry is instant and electric.
548 Hrs. (1982)The one that started it all. Nolte and Murphy absolutely hate each other, and it's gold.
6Beverly Hills Cop (1984)Eddie Murphy's laugh, that synth soundtrack, and Detroit attitude loose in Beverly Hills. Iconic.
7The Nice Guys (2016)Crowe and Gosling fumble through 1970s LA. Criminally underseen and endlessly quotable.
8Men in Black (1997)Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones police aliens instead of criminals. The coolest sunglasses in cinema history.
921 Jump Street (2012)Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum go back to high school. Way funnier than a TV reboot has any right to be.
10Stakeout (1987)Dreyfuss and Estevez on a boring surveillance job that goes sideways. Classic 80s comfort food.
11Turner & Hooch (1989)Tom Hanks partners with a drooling French Mastiff. The dog steals every scene and Hanks lets him.
12Ride Along (2014)Kevin Hart tries to impress Ice Cube by riding along on patrol. Hart's energy carries the whole film.
13The Other Guys (2010)Ferrell and Wahlberg are the desk jockeys nobody takes seriously. The opening scene alone is worth the ticket.
14Tango & Cash (1989)Stallone in a suit, Russell in cowboy boots, both cracking one-liners while blowing stuff up. Peak 80s excess.
15Starsky & Hutch (2004)Stiller and Wilson goof through a 70s cop show parody. Snoop Dogg as Huggy Bear is inspired casting.
16Bad Boys II (2003)Louder, longer, and more Michael Bay than the original. The freeway chase is absolute mayhem.
17Rush Hour 2 (2001)Chan and Tucker take the action to Hong Kong and Las Vegas. The massage parlor scene is comedy gold.
18Dragnet (1987)Dan Aykroyd plays it straight while Tom Hanks plays it loose. An underrated odd-couple pairing.
19Running Scared (1986)Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines as Chicago cops dreaming of retirement. Funny, cool, and way too overlooked.
20Cop Out (2010)Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan chase a stolen baseball card. Light, silly, and full of Morgan's improvised chaos.
21The Heat (2013)Bullock and McCarthy finally give women a buddy cop movie. McCarthy's Boston tough-guy act is relentless.
22Central Intelligence (2016)The Rock in a unicorn shirt and Kevin Hart as an accountant. Their size difference alone is comedy gold.
23Shanghai Noon (2000)Jackie Chan in the Wild West with Owen Wilson. Martial arts and cowboys shouldn't work this well together.
24Midnight Run (1988)De Niro as a bounty hunter dragging Charles Grodin across America. The bickering is Shakespearean.
25End of Watch (2012)Gyllenhaal and Pena make you believe they've been partners for years. Intense, emotional, and painfully real.
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