Buddy cop movies are a tried and true genre, and folks with an Amazon Prime subscription were recently treated to another entry: Ángel Manuel Soto's The Wrecking Crew. Critical response praised Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista's chemistry, as well as the epic (and bloody) violence of the R-rated movie. While I enjoyed the movie as a whole, I was shocked by just how many fat jokes were included throughout its 122-minute runtime.
While CinemaBlend's The Wrecking Crew review criticized the movie for being formulaic, I enjoyed watching all the pulse-pounding action play out from the comfort of my home. Jason Momoa is as charismatic as ever, and it was fun to watch him literally throwing his enemies around. I just wish his character, Jonny Hale, didn't make so many fatphobic jokes.
The Sheer Number Of Fat Jokes In The Wrecking Crew Was Baffling
When we meet Jonny and James Hale in The Wrecking Crew they're battling some demons. Momoa's character in particular, who is shown to be insensitive enough for his girlfriend, Valentina (Morena Baccarin), to leave him. I mean, he forgot both her birthday and the fact that she speaks Portuguese. So, when the hulking police officer makes a fat joke at the expense of one of Mr. K's goons, it at least felt character-driven. Jonny is a scoundrel, so it makes sense that he might not be sensitive in regards to people's physical appearance.
The problem is that Momoa's character keeps making fat jokes throughout the entire movie. I counted four when streaming the movie on Amazon, but it's possible that there were more, or that some ended up on the cutting room floor. I am baffled that writer Jonathan Tropper and director Ángel Manuel Soto would purposefully chose to make so many of these types of jokes.
You can call me woke all you want, but it's 2026 and we now understand the harm of making fat jokes both in life, and especially in film and TV productions. Representation matters, and I can't imagine how many people were offended by the constant supply of fatphobic jokes that made it into the final cut of The Wrecking Crew.
Like I said, if Jonny just made that one joke about Mr. K's henchman I probably wouldn't have batted an eye. But the fact that the movie included at least four different fat jokes made me feel icky. I just think that we've learned enough to not have to make these type of jokes about people's appearances. And, if they are used, they should be done sparingly, and better be funny enough to at least make me laugh. With this film seemingly set up for a sequel, I'm hoping this doesn't continue with future installments.
The Wrecking Crew is streaming now on Amazon as part of the 2026 movie schedule. And if you haven't seen it, buckle up for the surprising amount of times that Momoa calls people fat.
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