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Cop Out

Cop Out (DVD Cover)

Cast: Jimmy Monroe (Bruce Willis), Paul Hodges (Tracy Morgan), Barry Mangold (Adam Brody), Hunsaker (Kevin Pollak), Gabriela (Ana de la Reguera), Poh Boy (Guillermo Diaz), Dave (Seann William Scott)

Director: Kevin Smith

Theatrical release: 02/26/2010
DVD Date: 07/20/2010

Rating: R
Running Time: 107 minutes

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Cop Out

Review: I've been a fan of Bruce Willis since way back when, and will watch almost anything he plays in. I may not watch it again, but his presence pretty much guarantees that it will be seen at least once by me. And though I really don't care for buddy cop movies, the previews for Cop Out suggested it may have a least a few laughs in it -- and if not worthy of a purchase, at least good for a rental.

And that about sums it up: there are a few laughs that probably justify the cost of a rental. Normally I'd write a quick synopsis of the film here, except there is no discernable plot in Cop Out. I'm convinced the writers bounced around a few ideas for scenes, maybe even storyboarded a few, but when it came down to filming, they actually had no complete script to film from. Or maybe they had a dozen scripts to film from, and they picked a number of random scenes from each to include here. There are subplots involving ... how Bruce Willis's character is going to pay for his daughter's wedding by selling a rare baseball card; that Tracy Morgan's character thinks his wife is having an affair with their neighbor; tension within a Mexican drug cartel that is trying to take over distribution on the east coast; a stolen Mercedes-Benz; and so on. The connection between all this is tenuous at best.

There are only a handful of scenes in which the actors seem to care about their performance. Otherwise, it's like they're going through the motions. For the most part, it looks like every scene was shot in one take, as if spending time on a second take wasn't considered time well spent -- either by the actors or the director.

So, absent plot and flat direction aside, is there any reason at all to watch Cop Out? There are, as previously noted, a few scenes that are chuckle-worthy, and mostly because the actors themselves seem to be chuckling right along with the viewer. Then there's the running gag about how Willis's and Morgan's characters morph into characters played in other films that has some entertainment value:

Morgan to Willis, when trying to decide which of them should take the lead role in interrogating a suspect: "I'm gonna play the bad guy on this one."

Willis: "Doubtful."

Morgan: "Undoubtful."

Willis: "Highly doubtful. And you know why. Because you don't play the bad guy. You just steal all the lines you hear on TV and the movies that you like. And that's not acting."

Morgan: "And it's not stealing. It's called homage. It's French for, 'You better let me do this.'"

So, if you, like me, are a "die hard" fan of any of the principal actors, or consider buddy cop movies to the epitome of comedy, Cop Out may be worth a rental. For everyone else, it's likely to be a colossal waste of time.

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