2 Guns (2013)

Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg spend half of 2 Guns pointing pistols at each other, and that’s the fun half. The other half is plot. Navy intelligence, the DEA, the CIA, a cartel boss and a tiny Texas bank all circle the same pile of cash, and by the third double-cross you’ll stop keeping score. Washington is having fun as Bobby, cool and bone dry, and Wahlberg plays Stig as a motor-mouth who winks at everyone like he owns the room. Their back-and-forth is the whole show. Bill Paxton strolls in as a polite, drawling heavy with a creepy little game, and he’s scarier than anybody holding a machine gun. Paula Patton gets stuck playing a plot device. The final standoff on a ranch is chaos in the fun way. It made $131.9 million worldwide on a reported $61M. A 5.6 because two stars bicker beautifully and the story is a pileup. $97.63 says you ask a friend a weirdly specific question about their job, just to make sure they’re not secretly working for the Navy.

What works: Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg have easy, funny chemistry, and Bill Paxton makes a memorable, unsettling villain.

What doesn’t: The plot stacks double-crosses until nothing matters, and Paula Patton’s character exists mainly to move the twists along.

Who it’s for: Fans of mismatched-partner movies who care more about banter than about the plot making sense.