In 1982, a 22-year-old Eddie Murphy, who had already made a name for himself on Saturday Night Live, starred in his first movie: 48 Hrs. He played a criminal who was paroled for 48 hours teaming up with a rough and tough cop to help track down a killer. By the end of the movie, they are friends.
For better or worse, the buddy cop comedy was born.
While two characters who start a story as opposites but eventually become friends or lovers (most romantic comedies are about two mismatched individuals) goes back to the beginning of storytelling, 48 Hrs. is the first modern iteration that set in motion a concept that became a buddy cop comedy that’s still going strong today. This now includes The Pickup, which follows two armored truck drivers: Russell (Eddie Murphy) taking on the role as the older, wiser figure and Travis (Pete Davidson) as the young, irresponsible goofball. A routine route goes awry when the villain of the story attempts to take their armored vehicle.
The film is directed by Tim Story, who knows how to direct action and comedy with previous credits including Barbershop, Ride Along and The Blackening. He recognized both the upsides and the challenges with the buddy comedy, and the potential pitfalls with creating something that could feel stale and unoriginal.
“What’s great is you’re always starting with the base in these buddy comedies, where you (have) the ‘formula’ and then you’re looking for how do you make it different than what you’ve seen?” Story told The AU Review. “I think, first and foremost, you have to take the characters, or the actors that are playing them, and lean into their strengths.”
With a classic comedic actor like Eddie Murphy, Story had plenty of strengths to work with.
“(Murphy) said very early on he wanted to be the straight guy. He wanted to find a partner that would bounce off the walls and be the comedy element.”
The Retiree and the Loose Cannon
Being the straight guy meant Murphy was going to be the veteran driver who has lots of respect with his peers and, as the older of the buddies, plans on retiring soon. For good measure, the truck heist also coincides with his 25th wedding anniversary.
While not all older characters in these situations plan on retiring soon, it’s a trope Story could lean into. The concept started with Roger Murtaugh, Danny Glover’s retiring detective in Lethal Weapon, another buddy cop movie, and has been utilized several times after including in Bad Boys for Life, police parody Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult, and even an episode of The Simpsons.
Of course, the straight older cop gets a loose cannon for a partner they must tolerate. Lethal Weapon was named for Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson), whose suicidal and unorthodox methods have turned him into a human lethal weapon. Eddie Murphy has also played the loose cannon partner in 48 Hrs., Beverly Hills Cop and Showtime, as has Melissa McCarthy in The Heat, Ryan Gosling in The Nice Guys, Nick Frost in Hot Fuzz and Chris Tucker in Rush Hour.
The role of the unreliable or unconventional one doesn’t always occur in cop comedies. It’s simply a pairing of someone who plays it straight reacting against the jester. It’s a recipe for comedic success. Just consider Tommy Boy, One of Them Days, Planes, Trains and Automobiles or Marv (Daniel Stern) in Home Alone. They all seem designed to annoy the hell out of the other person, and they do it well (and audiences love it!).
The Dialogue and Character Action
Buddy comedies most often use comedic actors, so screenwriters and filmmakers should expect a certain amount of improvisation that will alter their scripts. For Murphy, it’s a requirement, and how he keeps the comedy alive.
“That’s the cornerstone of every movie I’ve ever done. We have to improvise,” Murphy tells Collider. “For me, that’s how, lots of times, you get new stuff, you get new funny stuff, and it gives the feeling that every take you do something, you do it a little differently, it gives you the feeling that it’s new.”
The dialogue plays into the character interaction. It’s often moments of ridiculous statements followed by the straight person’s reaction.
In several scenes in The Pickup, Davidson says or does something ridiculous only to be met with Murphy’s comment or reaction indicating his disdain or annoyance with his partner. One example is Davidson sharing the disgusting food contents in a cooler, and Murphy throwing a flurry of sarcasm and insults his way.
Being the straight person doesn’t mean that character can’t be funny; they just play the voice of reason.
Unless it’s a parody, it’s important to limit the loose cannons in a buddy comedy. Everyone other than Davidson tends to play their characters reasonably. Zoe (Keke Palmer), the villain of The Pickup, has comedy chops, but she uses them as a reaction to Davidson’s antics. Her henchmen are also fairly straight. The only other truly unconventional character is Clark (Andrew Dice Clay) who runs the armored car service, and becomes the common workplace enemy of Russell and Travis who can bond over how much of a jerk the guy is.
Everyone Has a Reason
Whether it’s Russell, Zoe or Travis, everyone must have a reason for their actions and why they make the choices they do.
Russell wants to finish the day as quickly as possible so he can celebrate his anniversary. Even when Zoe and her team try to hijack the armored car, the decisions he makes are based on his loyalty to his work and doing what he thinks will make the day shorter.
Travis, while goofy and a bit dim, couldn’t make it through training to be a police officer – his dream job. So, while he’s irresponsible, he has a legitimate reason for being the driver of an armored car. He needs to prove something to himself, even if he gets in his own way.
Finally, Zoe has her reasons for taking over the armored car. She’s smart, capable and is focused on her plan. It just so happens the two buddies in the front seat of the armored car must thwart her operations.
Work with the Tropes
Buddy comedies have tropes. While they may sometimes seem cliché or limiting, it’s a good idea to work within this sandbox and use them as a guide when writing your story. The dynamic of a reasonable character and a seemingly unreasonable character works because they can play off one another. Even the old comedies with the Marx Brothers had this in place. While Groucho Marx is far from a serious person in his movies, he is the reasonable one amid a team of whackier characters.
The Pickup shows another approach to the buddy cop comedy, and why it has remained a solid sub-genre that is still going strong.