COP OUT
Makes you wonder whether you’re watching a David Dhawan – Govinda Sanjay Dutt Flick!
By Quiien
A Warner Bros. release of a Marc Platt production
Produced by Platt, Polly Johnsen, Michael Tadross
Executive producers Adam Siegel, Robb Cullen, Mark Cullen
Directed, edited by Kevin Smith
Screenplay Robb Cullen, Mark Cullen
Starring
Jimmy - Bruce Willis
Paul - Tracy Morgan
Mangold - Adam Brody
Hunsaker - Kevin Pollack
Gabriela - Ana de la Reguera
Poh Boy - Guillermo Diaz
Ava - Michelle Trachtenberg
Dave - Seann William Scott
Roy - Jason Lee
Capt. Romans - Sean Cullen
Technical Analysis
Cop Out is an homage to the '80s buddy-cop comedy, right down to the Harold Faltermeyer synth score, the extensively ad-libbed "Cop Out" doesn't cop out on talking the talk, but it falls down on the job whenever it comes to walking the walk.
In the very first scene in Cop Out, long-term loose-cannon police partners Jimmy Monroe (Bruce Willis) and Paul Hodges (Tracy Morgan) discuss the nature of famous cop film homages. The conversation introduces an element of self-awareness, which is very quickly capitalised on with a throwaway reference to Die Hard, and alerts the viewer that Cop Out wants to be regarded as a homage to 1980s cop buddy films such as Beverly Hills Cop, 48 Hrs and Lethal Weapon. The combination of overacting, cheesy electronic music, stereotypical Mexican drug lord villains and weak plot about recovering a baseball card (For heaven’s sake!!!!!) certainly all suggest that Cop Out could work as a post-modern pastiche. However, there are far too many instances when director Kevin Smith actually appears to believe that the mediocre script is funny in its own right. Unfortunately, it’s mostly not.
It affects such a generic, mid-80s feel that you keep waiting for the wink. The Thing with Kevin Smith is that either you love him or hate him.. There is very little room in between.
The funniest lines come from Tracy Morgan, who’s given more freedom for his bizarre brand of comedy than he gets on 30 Rock. It may feel familiar, but that’s by design; Smith and writers Robb and Mark Cullen have borrowed from all of their favorite cop comedies and actioners of the ‘80s and ‘90s, paying homage to all of the most obvious clichés of the genre. And while Cop Out doesn’t really have anything new or important to say as a film (except “Weren’t the Lethal Weapon and Die Hard movies awesome?”), you can sit through it…
The most funny scenes in the whole film are the ones in the promos, where Seann William Scott (who I think was completely wasted) as a prisoner of police detectives played by Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, bedeviling Morgan - first, by making outrageously vulgar slanders about Morgan's wife, then by mimicking everything Morgan says. It's juvenile, to be sure, and it probably was only barely written. But those are the only moments in the movie where you're momentarily nudged out of your film-induced coma. Cop Out originally was titled A Couple of Dicks, which at least would have given you a smile going in. You won't be smiling coming out, and very little between the beginning and the end.
If you’ve noticed.. When writes turn Directors.. Something goes terribly amiss! This is Smith’s directorial Debut and you wonder why he did it considering his forte isn’t directing, but writing??
It is a film for undemanding audiences who are simply looking for a few laughs, and fans of Smith's trademark laid-back "two dudes talking" approach to the throwback genre. It should give Warner Bros. a decent opening weekend, but it probably will come up short on the long haul.
For me it’s a 2 stars on 5. Not a complete Strike out. But almost there..
The Story
Directed by Kevin Smith, "Cop Out" features two NYPD cops who have been partners for 9 years, on the trail of a stolen, rare, mint-condition baseball card and find themselves up against a merciless, memorabilia-obsessed gangster. But before they can recover the prized `52 Pafko, they must first rescue a Mexican beauty who holds the key to millions of dollars in off-shore bank accounts--and who has already witnessed one high-profile murder because of them.
Veteran detective Jimmy Monroe (Bruce Willis) needs to cash in on his perfect Pafko in order to pay for his daughter's upcoming wedding, but in the tradition of everything that can go wrong...it's pilfered before he has a chance to collect. Paul Hodges (Tracy Morgan) is Jimmy's "partner-against-crime," whose preoccupation with his wife's alleged infidelity makes it hard for him to keep his eye on the ball, or his mind on the crime. Already in trouble and with nothing left to lose, Jimmy and Paul will have to break all the rules--including enlisting the aid of stoner thief Dave (Seann William Scott), who's working Paul's last nerve as Paul and Jimmy try to work the case.
Business Analysis
Stands little chance
Other Credits
Camera (color), David Klein; music, Harold Faltermeyer; production designer, Michael Shaw; art directors, Jordan Jacobs, Jonathan Arkin; set decorator, Chryss Hionis; costume designer, Juliet Polcsa; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS/SDDS), James J, Sabat; sound designer/supervising sound editor, Tim Chau; re-recording mixers, Chau, Tim LeBlanc; special effects coordinator, Jeff Brink; stunt coordinator, Jery Hewitt; associate producer, Raymond Quinlan; assistant director, Michael Pitt; second unit director, David R. Ellis; casting, Jennifer Euston. Reviewed at Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Feb. 22, 2010. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 113 MIN.
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