Almost Cops is called Bad BOAs in its original Dutch, so Netflix’s bland re-title loses the Bad Boys play-in gag based on “Buitengewoon Opsporingsambtenaar,” or what the Netherlands National Police call their low-level Special Enforcement Officers. But the joke still works in practice, because in his role as a community service representative – he’s got cuffs and pepper spray, and issues citations for dogs pooping in the wrong place – Ramon (Jandino Asporaat) is irrepressibly optimistic, and maybe more invested in this sort of police work than the actual armed narcotics detectives in Rotterdam’s Criminal Investigation Division. In fact, Ramon is so enthusiastic as an Almost Cop, it puts him at odds with Jack (Werner Kolf), his arrogant new partner on loan from the actual cops.
The Gist: Ramon (Asporaat), in his Handhaving (enforcement) vest and gear belt, has no real power, and the people of Rotterdam know it. “No bike riding,” he says to bike riders, who all respond with a nonchalant “I know” as they bike right by. Even Moos (Moussaab Mahyu) and Sef (Youssef Omri), two wannabe toughs he’s known since they were tykes, only have a joking respect for Ramon. Still, he perseveres as a BOA. It’s in tribute to his late father, whose message to the community – “We’re all in this together” – is commemorated in a mural. And besides, while he enjoys being a community service officer, his real passion is building out a space he rented as a recreation center for local kids like Moos and Sef.
The way Ramon’s half-brother Kevin (Yannick Jozefzoon) is introduced, it’s not surprising when a surveillance op gone wrong at his job as an actual CID police officer leads the force to reassign Kevin’s partner Jack (Kolf) to the BOA and Ramon. Jack sees himself as a kind of supercop, so he’s none too happy to trade his service weapon for a Handhaving vest. But it’s not long before his frustrated attempts to assimilate to community service work are interrupted by parts of the case he was working with Kevin. There is a fearsome drug gang operating in Rotterdam, and it seems like they’ve got connections in the cop shop and to a rich Rotterdam building developer. And you guessed it: when the regular cops don’t seem to be on the case, the almost cops gotta step in, whether it’s against regulations or not.
Almost Cops has a lighthearted way about all of this. There is a bit of very real violence, but it’s mostly interested in how bumbling and wacky things can get. Outrageousness is often the focus here. To make a point, Ramon triggers a pepper spray canister into his own face, then does it again. But that preoccupation with shouty detours into jokes leaves a lot of the rest of the film quite undeveloped. Can the at-odds chemistry between Asporaat and Kolf carry Ramon and Jack to victory over their criminal adversaries? Maybe, maybe not. But watching Almost Cops, it’s likely enough to keep you mildly interested.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Jandino Asporaat originally hit Netflix with his standup comedy special Whatever It Takes. And Almost Cops is part of a ready stable of madcap Euro comedies on the streamer that often involve heavy helpings of wackiness and law enforcement, stuff like Nice Girls (France) and Trouble (Sweden).
Performance Worth Watching: The rest of the Special Enforcement Officers don’t get a whole lot of screen time in Almost Cops, but we enjoyed Stephanie Van Eer playing BOA Charly as a deadpan conspiracy theorist and Rian Gerritsen as Janet, the team’s harried, slightly cynical leader.
Memorable Dialogue: Ramon: “Do you see the CID? I don’t see them. Know what I see? I see Jack. I see Ramon. Ramon, Jack. Jack, Ramon. It’s just us, bro – all we have is each other.”
And to finish his point, Ramon triumphantly channels the play on words in the original title of this film, emphasized with a hip-hop musical stinger.
“Bad BOA’s for life!!!”
Sex and Skin: Almost Cops isn’t showing anything off, but there is a repeated bit about BOA Bruno (Ferdi Stofmeel) being frequently nude in the workplace.
Our Take: Almost Cops almost feels like a comedy series stitched together as a comedy movie. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it does feed the sense this film left some unstitched parts in a pile somewhere. There are a handful of underdeveloped characters – Ramon’s mom and her boyfriend, the rest of the BOA squad – and gaps in the plotting for the bad guy side of things, even though their scheme is pretty predictable from the start. We would have liked to see more of Ramon’s relationship with his half-brother Kevin, because as it is, that thread just feels like pure setup. It’s interesting that the central conceit of Almost Cops – junior varsity law enforcement types thrown into thwarting a criminal enterprise with the potential for real danger – was already developed as a series, and a funnier one than this movie. Black Ops, from the BBC via Hulu, features its own wordplay titling and a lot of great banter between Gbemisola Ikumelo and Akemnji Ndifornyen as community service officers in London.
Elsewhere, Almost Cops is most enjoyable in its interplay between Jandino Asporaat and Werner Kolf as Ramon and Jack, as they figure out how their clashing styles might be a benefit and, you know, learn a lot and laugh a little along the way. You might (probably will) find yourself seeing how it’s all gonna play out an entire act before the film gets there. But there’s nothing almost about the fun, oddball chemistry between Asporaat and Kolf.
Our Call: Stream Almost Cops for its light laughs and wacky collaborative energy. Maybe the bike chases? You could also stream it for its views of the everyday streets and neighborhoods of Rotterdam, if you’re like us and are into that sort of thing. But Almost Cops might otherwise be missing a few parts.
Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.