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鈥淣ew Girl鈥� actors Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr. have teamed up outside of the Fox sitcom for the new comedy 鈥淟et鈥檚 Be Cops.鈥�

The movie, which was released on Aug. 13, centers on two friends, Ryan (Johnson) and Justin (Wayans), who wear police uniforms for a costume party and soon discover that they like how they鈥檙e received by others when they鈥檙e mistaken for real policemen. However, when they get involved with real criminals, trouble ensues.

Johnson and Wayans have starred together on 鈥淣ew Girl鈥� for one season 鈥� Wayans Jr. starred in the pilot but left the show for some time after that to return to his ABC sitcom 鈥淗appy Endings.鈥� After 鈥淗appy鈥� was canceled, his character returned to the show during the third season of 鈥淣ew Girl鈥� and was then named as a series regular this past May.聽

For 鈥淐ops,鈥� which also co-stars actors Rob Riggle, Nina Dobrev of 鈥淭he Vampire Diaries,鈥� and Keegan-Michael Key of 鈥淜ey and Peele,鈥� Johnson told the Chicago Tribune that he feels the movie is nostalgic.

鈥淚t felt like those movies I watched growing up where two funny people doing jokes get involved in something with a real bad guy,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey get in way over their heads and now they have to learn the lesson to get out of trouble. I grew up loving those movies.鈥�

However, so far, critics have not embraced 鈥淐ops鈥� 鈥� the film currently has a score of 31 out of 100 on the review aggregator site Metacritic. Variety critic Joe Leydon predicted that the movie 鈥渟hould generate solid late-summer box office鈥� and that 鈥渢he target audience will likely be amused,鈥� though he wrote that 鈥渢he mix of raucous buffoonery and violent mayhem isn鈥檛 exactly seamless鈥� and the movie is 鈥渟poradically hilarious.鈥�

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Times reviewer Robert Abele called the movie 鈥渞ote, slipshod, and unfunny鈥� and wrote that there鈥檚 鈥渁n uninspired heroes-and-villains story鈥� Johnson and Wayans are likable enough. They have a rapport from their work together on the sitcom 鈥楴ew Girl鈥� that they readily take advantage of here. But the movie relies too much on the same comic tension in each scene.鈥�

And Vulture writer Bilge Ebiri wrote that 鈥渋t seems weird to try to laugh at a movie called聽Let's Be Cops聽the same week that an American town burned聽in response to what appears to be an act of police criminality鈥� Devoid of context,聽鈥楲et鈥檚 Be Cops鈥櫬爄s mildly amusing stuff鈥� [but] we won鈥檛 remember this movie at all.鈥澛�