CHiPs

The adventures of the California Highway Patrol thrilled young TV audiences in the 1970s and 80s, and while this big screen reboot aims for a more grown-up audience it perpetually stumbles into sniggering adolescent territory. Writer and director Dax Shepard also stars as a faded motorcycle showman trying to rebuild his life as a cop, teamed with an undercover FBI agent (Michael Peña) investigating a crime ring among other patrolmen. Climb aboard for mismatched buddy-movie japes, accompanied by some eye-popping stunt action, but don't expect your brain to be taxed to any great depth; compared even to the shoot-'em-up escapism of the Lethal Weapon or Bad Boys franchises, CHiPs sets its sights low from the off. Shepard and Peña make solid sparring partners and most of the humour lands where intended, but the script is tainted by a succession of smutty frat-house gags that feel out of place in what would otherwise be a perfectly serviceable pre-watershed comedy.