Some of the best 90s buddy cop movies never felt better than when you caught them by accident. Friday night, pizza box on the coffee table, flipping past a Saved by the Bell rerun and landing on Mel Gibson and Danny Glover yelling at each other in a car. You didn't choose it. It chose you. And you watched the whole thing, commercials and all.
That's the energy of this lineup. It's what a Friday night on BUDDIES, channel 14 in Nostalgex, looks like if these 90s action comedies are in your library: something loud when you first sit down, crowd pleasers while the family's still up, and the meaner, rated R stuff once the kids are in bed. Grab a partner you can't stand. That's the format.
The Rules of the Format
Every good buddy cop movie runs on the same engine. Two people who should never share a car are forced to share a car. One is by the book, one is a loose cannon. Somebody is close to retirement. Somebody's captain is screaming. Something at a port, an airport, or a stadium explodes in the last twenty minutes.
Friday Night Lineup
First Flip: Tango & Cash (1989)
Yes, it's from 1989, the 80s handing the baton to the 90s, and BUDDIES includes movies from 1980 through 2004. Sylvester Stallone plays Ray Tango, a suit and glasses narcotics cop, and Kurt Russell plays Gabe Cash, a slob. Rival LAPD guys, both framed by Jack Palance, who keeps mice in a maze in his lair because of course he does. There's a prison escape, a Kurt Russell drag scene, Teri Hatcher, and Stallone saying "Rambo is a pussy" with a straight face. It's ridiculous. It's the perfect thing to land on with the pizza still hot.
Early Evening: Rush Hour (1998)
The PG-13 one you want on while the whole family is still on the couch. Jackie Chan is Inspector Lee from Hong Kong, Chris Tucker is Detective James Carter of the LAPD, and the FBI hands Carter the job of keeping Lee out of the way while they look for the Chinese consul's kidnapped daughter. "Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?" became a playground catchphrase overnight. Stay for the Edwin Starr "War" scene and the blooper reel over the credits, which a real channel would never cut.
Prime Time: Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)
The prime time catch. Riggs and Murtaugh are back, Murtaugh is eight days from retirement, and the opening building explosion was a real demolition of Orlando's old City Hall that the crew got invited to film. Joe Pesci returns as Leo Getz ("okay, okay, okay"), and Rene Russo arrives as Internal Affairs Sergeant Lorna Cole, who is crazier than Riggs. Their scene comparing scars is the most romantic thing in any 90s action movie. This is the dad pick, and dad is right.
Late Night: Bad Boys (1995)
The kids are asleep, so the volume goes up. Michael Bay's first movie stars Will Smith as Mike Lowrey and Martin Lawrence as Marcus Burnett, two Miami detectives who have to swap identities to protect a witness (Téa Leoni) after $100 million in heroin disappears from police evidence. Smith was still the Fresh Prince at the time, and you can watch him become a movie star in real time. Lawrence does the heavy comedy lifting. Joe Pantoliano's captain is permanently one bad day from a heart attack.
After Midnight: The Last Boy Scout (1991)
The meanest movie here, and the best one to stumble onto after midnight. Bruce Willis is Joe Hallenbeck, a burned out private eye and former Secret Service agent, and Damon Wayans is Jimmy Dix, a former quarterback banned over gambling. Neither one is technically a cop, and it does not matter. Shane Black's script sold for a record price, Tony Scott shot it like a beer commercial on fire, and the opening on a pro football field is genuinely shocking. Danielle Harris plays Joe's foul mouthed daughter.
The Graveyard Shift
The 3 AM Movie: Money Train (1995)
Every channel has a 3 AM movie. On BUDDIES, hope it's this one. Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson reunite after White Men Can't Jump as foster brothers working as New York transit cops, Jennifer Lopez is the partner they both fall for, and Robert Blake plays their boss with maximum sneer. It flopped. It's also a sweaty, loud, totally watchable subway movie that feels made for the hour when you're half asleep and won't change the channel.
Saturday Morning: Men in Black (1997)
Leave BUDDIES on into Saturday. Men in Black (1997) is the kind of thing that may turn up, depending on your library: Tommy Lee Jones as K, Will Smith as J, Vincent D'Onofrio walking around in a farmer's skin as Edgar the bug, Frank the pug, the Noisy Cricket, and the neuralyzer. It's 98 minutes and PG-13. Technically they're agents, not cops. Same format, better sunglasses.
The One I'd Flip Past: Beverly Hills Cop III (1994)
If it's in your library, it'll turn up on BUDDIES eventually. Axel Foley at a theme park called Wonderworld, Judge Reinhold back as Rosewood, Serge back with more weapons. But no Taggart, a tired script, and even Eddie Murphy hasn't been kind about it since. When it comes on, I'm flipping to LAST ACTION HEROES.
How It Works on Nostalgex
Nostalgex is a free, open source Apple TV app, plus a free web tuner, that turns your own Plex, Jellyfin, or Emby library into live channels with a retro TV guide. It's plug and play. Connect your server and it builds the channels and schedules from your library, so BUDDIES is already airing the moment you open the guide. Quick honesty check: it doesn't come with movies. It plays what you've already got on your server, so these need to be in your library. (First time? Here's how to set up your Plex library as live channels.)
BUDDIES is on channel 14
BUDDIES (channel 14, in the NOSTALGEX bundle) fills itself from action and comedy movies, 1980 through 2004. Keywords like "buddy cop" and "mismatched pair" pull more titles in. They do not limit the channel to buddy cop movies. Its neighbor LAST ACTION HEROES (channel 13) handles straighter action. Every channel runs a real schedule all day, so you tune in to a car chase already in progress like it's 1995.
Flip like it's 1996
During playback you can swipe through channels without leaving the picture and see what's up next. Flip from BUDDIES to LAST ACTION HEROES to whatever's on CRIME FLICKS, and back again. For the full look, turn on retro mode for the CRT treatment.
Tune In Tonight
The quickest way to see it is the free web tuner at nostalgex.app. Connect your server and your channels are already playing. The web tuner does need your media server reachable over HTTPS (Plex usually takes care of that). For the couch version, get Nostalgex free on Apple TV.
Somebody's eight days from retirement. Don't make them wait.