End of Watch dances all over the line of over-the-top and plausible reality. Its characters are immensely watchable, even down to the supporting cast like Frank Grillo and David Harbour.
The character-perspective camera work captures the chaos in a unique way and furthers character development. However, it is also a distraction as the film explains in unbelievable ways why various characters are recording things. Ultimately though it feels unnecessary as the film mixes this documentary style with regular camera work.
Some of the script is really good, genuinely eliciting laughs, and some feels written with a hammer. The hammer can be said for a lot of things though, even outside of dialogue, with a movie that starts off with its lead cops immediately breaking their cover to walk up in a shoot out for the cool guys factor.
A really rough spot is the curbside gangsters, a constant villainous element throughout. These characters were comically mustache twirly. That could have worked fine, but they got too much screen time and it only greatly detracted.
It would be hard to have a bad time with End of Watch, just be ready to suspend some disbelief.