There was a good bit on **** about how there can't be any more good buddy cop movies because there's no more crazy pairings, and all the recent ones that have been any good (Hot Fuzz, The Heat) are meta-commentaries on buddy cop films than actual buddy cop movies.  And I guess I agree with that...

However, I read an article about how the Romantic Comedy is dying, but romance in movies is thriving.  An interesting read, so I'm wondering if the same can't be true for buddy cop films?

I'm ESPECIALLY thinking of this right now because Chip put the idea in my head of a Mark Ruffalo/Robert Downey Jr buddy cop movie when we were talking about Iron Man 3, and I wanna see that enough that I'm willing to explore how that sort of story might work (plus, if I can crack it in general, well, that gives me an advantage over everyone else).

The other big issue (besides crazy pairings) that's killing buddy cop comedies and police movies in general is, well, once you know who the bad guy is, the movie's not rewatchable... so that's another hurdle that the movie format has to overcome now.  So I guess the actual guilty party isn't as important, it's not putting the clues together, it's HOW they do it, the JOURNEY becomes more important.