Michael Peña and Alexander Skarsgård in War On Everyone, directed by John Michael McDonaghIcon Films

War on Everyone is the latest in a string of action-comedy buddy-cop films, in the tradition of Starsky and Hutch, 21 Jump Street, or more recently, Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe’s The Nice Guys. But nice guys Bob Bolaño (Michael Peña) and Terry Monroe (Alexander Skarsgård) most certainly are not. On the contrary, they fight, rob and extort their way through the day, waving their guns and badges as they go. The film is extremely rude, very funny, not a little surreal, and maybe even rather poetic.

The stage is set, refreshingly, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which director and screenwriter John Michael McDonagh suffused with a seventies vibe, from the saturated colours and floral shirts to the soundtrack (a week later, and ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’ is still in my head). Trouble arises when Bob and Terry get close to a crime ring run by a devilishly handsome and nihilistic British Lord (Theo James, of Divergent fame), and his Clockwork Orange-style right hand man, played by Caleb Landry Jones.

They are clearly in over their heads and end up losing the support of their long-suffering lieutenant (Paul Reiser), but no matter. As he explains after their latest rampage: “All I’m saying is that if he was an Arab, it’d be fine. But c’mon guys, he’s a Brit”. Sensitive viewers beware, it gets worse (or better). As Terry contemplates taking in a young boy who witnessed his mother murder his father, Bob, father of two rather large children himself, tries to dissuade him, summing up parenthood thus: “You have to feed the fat fucks like 24/7”. They are equal opportunity offenders, and spare no punches, poetic or otherwise, for anyone. Ever.

When the characters aren’t swearing, they’re discussing the meaning of life and exchanging high-brow quips on Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Who-said-what is a recurring theme of disagreement between Michael Peña’s pudgy, grumpy, fast-talking cop and his gorgeous, patient, hairdresser wife (played by the lovely Stephanie Sigman). In fact the film opens to a car chase involving a mime. “I’ve always wondered if you hit a mime”, Bob muses, “does he make a sound?”.

Terry, on the other hand, is a melancholy, sentimental, tough guy who, though he can barely take care of himself and drinks beer for breakfast, creates his own modern family when he takes in an ex-dancer, who may or may not still be in the bad guys’ crosshairs, and a troubled young boy.

War on Everyone occasionally feels like the poor, weird relative of The Nice Guys, which manages to keep the laughs coming more consistently. During War on Everyone, I found myself occasionally waiting to laugh without always quite getting there. Not all the punchlines hit the mark, but the sheer absurdity and gleeful misanthropy of it all make for a very fun one hour and 38 minutes indeed.