COP OUT

On the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, Tracy Morgan's character has a slew of faux movie posters on the wall of his dressing room, mimicking low-budget 'paycheck' movies that he's made.  If you see a Cop Out poster on the wall in next season's episodes, don't be surprised. 

I've enjoyed Kevin Smith's movies in the past.  Clerks, Mallrats, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Dogma - all fine examples of Smith's writing and directing ability.  It's always been his smart, witty dialogue and ability to mix pop culture references and observational humor into a humorous, 100 minute package.  Unfortunately, Smith didn't write this film, and can only take blame credit for the directing portion.  Et tu Kevin Smith? Et tu....


Cop Out is a buddy cop movie in the Beverly Hills Cop / Lethal Weapon framework.  Tracy Morgan is 'the black guy', and Bruce Willis is 'the white guy'.  The problem with the movie, is that I couldn't tell what kind of movie Smith was trying to make.  On the surface, you'd think it'd be straight comedy, until you get to the multiple brutal killings that seem so far out of bounds for this type of film, you can't help but feel like you missed the joke somewhere. 

The plot is loosely based around a stolen baseball card, and Willis and Morgan's attempt to get it back from a drug dealer (Juan Carlos Hernandez from Half-Baked).  Throw in a maybe she is / maybe she isn't cheating Rashida Jones (The Office, Parks & Recreation), 2 straight and narrow cops (one played by Kevin Pollak), a Mexican beauty who doesn't speak any English, a parkour burglar (Sean William Scott), a stuck up jerk of a 2nd husband to Willis' ex-wife (Jason Lee) and Willis' attempt to pay a $48,000 wedding bill for his daughter, and you've got 3 too many side plots that start and end up as complete nonsense. 

In the end, I was most disappointed in the lack of originality in the film.  I felt like the movie was about 20 minutes too long, and I honestly just wanted it to be over.  The synthesizer music was a nice homage to the Beverly Hills Cops franchise, but the rest of the soundtrack was scattered and felt disjointed as well. 

I feel bad not liking this more as much as I've enjoyed Kevin Smith's other films, but to me, it just felt like a 'cop out' on his part.  2 out of 5 stars.