Armed and sort of dangerous
Cooper (Reese Witherspoon) is a straight-laced Texas police officer who occasionally screws up on the job and has a habit of being clumsy, at her commanding officer's request Cooper is given the task of protecting a mob boss named Felipe Riva, who's testifying against a drug cartel and his wife Daniella (Sofía Vergara). The two bond over time with hilarious results.This movie contains the following tropes:
- A Minor Kidroduction: The prologue follows Cooper throughout her childhood and formative years with her police officer father.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other:
- "Love" might be a strong word, but Cooper and Daniella do slowly connect with one another even as they spend the entire movie engaging in Snark-to-Snark Combat. By the end, they're clearly on the way to becoming full-fledged BFFs.
- Despite their constant yelling and bickering, Daniella is distraught when her husband died.
- Berserk Button: Incorrect height for Cooper, incorrect age for Daniella. Unfortunately for them both, the news reports keep making them shorter and older, respectively, as a Running Gag.
- Big "NO!": Daniella screams this when told by Cooper that her husband is dead.
- Big "WHY?!": Daniella cries this after learning her husband is dead.
- Black Dude Dies First: Jackson gets killed right after Daniella's husband died too.
- By-the-Book Cop: Barring her screwups, Cooper could be considered this.
- Butch Lesbian: Cooper is mistaken for being one by Daniella due to her lack of proper feminine shoe wear.
- Butt-Monkey: Cooper. Throughout the film, she gets made of fun and humiliated, and gets put into other comedic situations. Her name being used as a term for screwing up says it all.
- Chekhov's Gun: The longhorn tattoo on the suspect's arm.
- Chekhov's Skill: More like Chekhov's gag. Cooper uses a glass of alcohol and her taser to incapacitate her corrupt boss late in the film, similar to the Noodle Incident that earned her her Person as Verb status. She even lampshades it:Cooper:' You just got "Coopered", bitch!
- Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Daniella is pissed that Cooper has saved her life by shooting Cortez in self-defense because it now means she doesn't get to avenge her brother. She softens when she realizes Cooper took a bullet in doing so, though.
- Dark and Troubled Past:
- Cooper basically witnessed her father's death as a teenager.
- Daniella's brother worked for (and later stole from) Cortez in order to provide her with a better life. He was murdered for his trouble after being found out.
- Dirty Cop: Emmett, Dixon, and Hauser are all on Cortez's payroll either directly or by extension.
- Dirty Coward: Daniella's husband attempts to run away and save himself when he is attacked by home invaders. He doesn't make it.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Used by Cooper in the Spotting the Thread bit below.Cooper: Tank is three-quarters full so they must have been only thirty miles away which means they would have been coming from...
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: The prostitute picked up by the police in Cooper's childhood flashback montage is nice to Cooper as a child. Among other things.
- Large Ham: As only she could, Sofia Vergara practically hams it up every scene. Always screaming, always shouting, No Indoor Voice.
- Leg Focus: There's a shot of Daniella's legs as she exits a red car. Her legs are also the first thing one of the dirty cops notices about her.
- Ma'am Shock: Daniella does not enjoy being called an old lady or being mistaken for 40.
- Mistaken for Gay: Cooper is mistaken for a lesbian by Daniella due to the fact that she wears the same men's shoes as Daniella's husband.
- Mistaken for Racist: Daniella believes Cooper is racist against Latinos due to her vocabulary and assuming she has a cellphone hidden in her boobs. Cooper was right about the last one.
- The Napoleon: Cooper is insecure about her size and loses it when the news reports keep assigning her shorter and shorter heights, to Daniella's amusement. She's also extremely by-the-book, easily frustrated, and doesn't suffer foolery too well until Daniella gets her to lighten up.
- Noodle Incident: The shotgun incident for Cooper. See Person as Verb.
- No Periods, Period: Invoked. Cooper and Daniella fake being on their periods and needing feminine products as an excuse to evade the dirty cops.
- Only Known By Her Nickname: It takes until the end of the film to learn that Cooper's first name is Rose.
- Person as Verb: Cooper has been in professional trouble since she accidentally set a young man (who happened to be the mayor's son) on fire when her taser triggered the alcohol on his shirt because she misinterpreted his 'call shotgun' comment, resulting in people making references to 'getting Coopered'.
- Revenge: It turns out, Daniella orchestrated her own home invasion and would-be abduction in order to get her close to Vincent Cortez, the drug kingpin who murdered her brother, so she could avenge him.
- Running Gag: Every time Cooper and Daniella hear a public announcement about their status, Cooper is listed as being an inch shorter than the last broadcast while Daniella is described as being a few years older.
- Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: The degree to which Cooper can be considered 'awesome' may be debated, but she possesses a virtually encyclopaedic knowledge of police procedural codes, while lacking various social skills such as an ignorance of the meaning of the term "I call shotgun", as well as coming across too strongly during dates.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Daniella attempts to leave with her suitcase, prompting Cooper to intervene.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: While she spends most of the film in her uniform, when she gets in a dress Cooper manages to look very good.
- Skewed Priorities: Daniella is more worried about leaving her extravagant material things than her life being in danger. Later, she's pissed that Cooper shot Cortez, thus denying her the chance to get her revenge on him in spite of the fact that Cortez had just taken a shot at Cooper and was about to execute Daniella as well.
- Spotting the Thread: When they escape the initial hit squad at the mansion, Cooper and Daniella are met by cops Dixon and Hauser who said they're responding to Cooper's call for aid. It's when she's inside the car, that Cooper realizes that she put out the call just 20 minutes ago and to get from the police station to this location that fast, the cops would have had to have been doing 180 miles an hour. She then checks the car's fuel gauge to do the math on how these men were just 30 miles away when the call came in. Finally, she spots that Hauser has the same tattoo as one of the masked gunmen at the mansion and they're working for the cartel.
- Standard Cop Backstory: Officer Cooper's father is a cop who was fatally shot in the line of duty.
- Too Much Information: Cooper and Daniella fake having periods as an excuse to leave to the bar restroom and escape the dirty cops. Neither male cop can handle the details.
- Uncool Undies: While trying to find a change of clothes to blend in after being labeled fugitives, Cooper strips which causes Daniella to see Cooper's full-coverage granny panties, as she makes fun of her and calls them a diaper.
- U.S. Marshal: Jackson who get killed by hired Hispanic assassins
- Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Played for Laughs. In a childhood flashback montage where one of the suspects picked up is a drugged/intoxicated prostitute, Cooper comments the prostitute on how pretty she is. The prostitute responds back, in a audible deep male voice: "Thanks, baby, you too". Rose's eyes widen at that.
- Victoria's Secret Compartment: Daniella had a cellphone hidden in her boobs.
- You Don't Want to Know: When Daniella and Cooper tell a guy in the bar to stop hitting on them because they got their periods, the guy looks on disgusted and turns to face one of the dirty cops who tells him "Trust me, you don't wanna know".
