If you were to combine the sensibilities of an 80's buddy cop comedy with the 90's dirty joke sensibilities of a Kevin Smith film, you'd get Cop Out. While this mash-up doesn't produce results on par with the best of the genres it draws on, it still provides plenty of laughs.
Jimmy Monroe (Bruce Willis) and Paul Hodges (Tracy Morgan) are two veteran NYPD officers who can't make it ten minutes into the film without getting suspended for a bust gone bad. This turn of events is particularly bad for Monroe, who was counting on a steady paycheck to bankroll his daugher's (Michelle Trachtenburg) wedding, and show up her smarmy stepfather (Jason Lee). When his efforts to raise the money by selling a treasured baseball card are thwarted by a thief (Sean William Scott), his efforts to get the card back draw him and his partner even deeper into the investigation that got them suspended in the first place.
It's all serviceable fodder for a buddy cop flick, and Willis and Morgan are game, bouncing banter off each other with aplomb. That the banter isn't written by the film's director, Kevin Smith, is regrettable, as the script, by Robb and Mark Cullen, doesn't give the duo nearly as clever dialogue as Smith is known for. Which is not to say they don't get off a few zingers, or that the film doesn't supply some truly outrageous moments. A run in with a car thief provides one of the film's best gags, the kind where the audience drowns out the next two minutes of dialogue because they're laughing so hard.
It almost doesn't matter that Smith directs the film. Without his signature dialogue, the marks he leaves on the film are far more subtle: the old-school hip hop soundtrack, the winking film references. And while it's clear that Smith has films like Fletch and Running Scared on his mind, the film feels a far more generic than its inspirations.
The film's biggest shout out to the 80's comes in the form of a score by Harold Faltermeyer (Fletch, Beverly Hills Cop). Unfortunately, the score comes off sounding like an attempt to emulate Faltermeyer's synth charm instead of the real deal.
The film's MVP actually ends up being Scott, who not only plays well off of Morgan and Willis, but off anyone he appears with. Another of the film's best moments revolves around him hectoring a cellmate into a surprising admission.
Kevin Smith fans expecting a typical Kevin Smith movie will be disappointed by Cop Out. But anyone, fan or not, looking for an amiable R-rated comedy will have a good time.
Jimmy Monroe (Bruce Willis) and Paul Hodges (Tracy Morgan) are two veteran NYPD officers who can't make it ten minutes into the film without getting suspended for a bust gone bad. This turn of events is particularly bad for Monroe, who was counting on a steady paycheck to bankroll his daugher's (Michelle Trachtenburg) wedding, and show up her smarmy stepfather (Jason Lee). When his efforts to raise the money by selling a treasured baseball card are thwarted by a thief (Sean William Scott), his efforts to get the card back draw him and his partner even deeper into the investigation that got them suspended in the first place.
It's all serviceable fodder for a buddy cop flick, and Willis and Morgan are game, bouncing banter off each other with aplomb. That the banter isn't written by the film's director, Kevin Smith, is regrettable, as the script, by Robb and Mark Cullen, doesn't give the duo nearly as clever dialogue as Smith is known for. Which is not to say they don't get off a few zingers, or that the film doesn't supply some truly outrageous moments. A run in with a car thief provides one of the film's best gags, the kind where the audience drowns out the next two minutes of dialogue because they're laughing so hard.
It almost doesn't matter that Smith directs the film. Without his signature dialogue, the marks he leaves on the film are far more subtle: the old-school hip hop soundtrack, the winking film references. And while it's clear that Smith has films like Fletch and Running Scared on his mind, the film feels a far more generic than its inspirations.
The film's biggest shout out to the 80's comes in the form of a score by Harold Faltermeyer (Fletch, Beverly Hills Cop). Unfortunately, the score comes off sounding like an attempt to emulate Faltermeyer's synth charm instead of the real deal.
The film's MVP actually ends up being Scott, who not only plays well off of Morgan and Willis, but off anyone he appears with. Another of the film's best moments revolves around him hectoring a cellmate into a surprising admission.
Kevin Smith fans expecting a typical Kevin Smith movie will be disappointed by Cop Out. But anyone, fan or not, looking for an amiable R-rated comedy will have a good time.
