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Is it worth $10? No
“Cop Out” challenges new depths of terrible and holds up pretty well amongst the worst, most gratingly awful movies you can remember. That includes you, “Love Guru.”
Although Bruce “Hudson Hawk” Willis has been “Bonfire of the Vanities” bad before, the failure of this unfunny comedy isn’t his fault. In fact, his tough-guy Jimmy is the only one who looks like he belongs in a buddy cop movie. No, the blame mostly goes to Tracy Morgan, who plays Jimmy’s partner Paul as a whiny, petulant baby whom you will want to punch in the face every time he speaks.
This is the first movie Kevin Smith (“Clerks”) has directed that he hasn’t also written, and at no point is the script sharp, clever, funny, witty, amusing, inspired or original. It does, however, have exchanges that sound like fourth graders on a schoolyard.
Paul: Can I put the cherry on top of the car?
Jimmy: No.
Paul: You just made me sad.
Later, during a fierce standoff in the finale, Paul calls the bad guy a “nincompoop.” Yeah, that told him.
But the bad dialogue, written by Robb and Mark Cullen, isn’t Morgan’s alone. When Jimmy and Paul tell a burglar (Seann William Scott) they’ve just arrested to “shut up,” the burglar responds by saying “Hey, you shut up” and then repeats everything Paul says as Paul is saying it. This particularly brilliant sequence ends with a knock-knock joke.
There’s also a foul-mouthed 11 year-old, a drug lord with the authentically Mexican name of Poh Boy (Guillermo Diaz), a kidnapped hottie (Ana de la Reguera), rival cop partners (Adam Brody and Kevin Pollak) who serve no purpose, and the stereotypical police captain (Sean Cullen) without a soul. Thank goodness for Susie Essman, who humorously cameos as a badass housewife who foils a robbery that Jimmy and Paul fail to prevent.
And then there are the odd subplots, with Paul believing his wife (Rashida Jones) is cheating on him (can’t blame her) and Jimmy needing money to pay for his daughter’s (Michelle Trachtenberg) wedding. None of it comes together with any clarity, precision or reason. What’s more, the extensive foul-language and “R” rating don’t fit the intended lighthearted tone, meaning everything feels off from the beginning.
I noticed I’ve come to the end without discussing the plot. There’s really no need. What is painfully and sadly obvious is that even if I personally hated Willis, Morgan and Smith I wouldn’t be able to make up a review that’s this scathing (I don’t, for the record, and I’m actually a fan of Willis and Smith, which makes this more disappointing). What a disaster.
Did you know?
When Smith learned the studio was going to call the movie "A Couple of Cops" instead of the original title “A Couple of Dicks,” he told a producer, "God that title is going to feel like such a f***ing cop out." The producer replied, "We should just call the movie that," and the rest is history.
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mag2426
said:
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... As a Retired NYC cop...it brought me to many laughs throughout the movie. Many incidents in the movie were close to reality in the NYPD. Very Funny Movie |
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