Man, is this a bad movie. Like, roll-up-a-newspaper-and-swat-it bad, because this movie does to your mind what a new puppy does to grandma’s Persian rug.
It’s the first movie Kevin Smith has directed without also serving as a writer, and it actually makes clear what a good writer he is. There are several very Smithy flourishes in “Cop Out,” but what’s missing is his truly unique voice. In a lot of ways it seems that everyone involved set out to do a by-the-numbers buddy picture – Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis emphatically debate the pronunciation of the word “homage” inside the first five minutes - it’s just that it’s tough to parody a genre that’s already pretty much a parody of itself. Despite a number of clever, and even laugh-out-loud moments, “Cop Out,” puts its run-of-the-mill, generic, borderline racist story ahead of the funny at almost every turn.
It says something that the most shining moments in the movie are the most incidental. I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but everything gets a hell of a lot shinier whenever Seann William Scott is onscreen. His bizarre, over-the-top wackball pours a little juice into this jalopy, but he only gets a total of about ten minutes onscreen. The other standout supporting player is the lady who catches him while he’s trying to burgle her house. Her string of self-censored curses is the funniest scene in the movie. Which makes me a sad rabbit.
The structure is all over the place. There are extraneous relationships and plot strands that go nowhere (my only problem with Radha Mitchell in lingerie on a nanny-cam is that it was in this movie, where it both wasn’t funny and didn’t add anything to the story). The first twenty minutes is a nigh-unwatchable mess. Once Jim (Bruce Willis) goes to sell a baseball card to finance his daughter’s wedding, things pull together a little bit. The card gets stolen and voila, a clearly defined goal. For one of the two characters who are onscreen for ninety percent of the movie.
The other character, however is Tracy Morgan’s Paul. I suppose the level to which you enjoy “Cop Out” will depend largely on how you feel about watching a grown man behave like a developmentally challeneged middle-schooler for an hour and a half. He manages to channel the same shtick to more productive ends on 30 Rock, where at least there’s a bit of a wink, but here…man, childish histrionics is not the same as comedy. Like everyone else here, he’s got a few choice lines, but by and large he’s the biggest nail in the lid of this turkey. Maybe it’s my elite East coast liberal education talking, but on top of his general lack of funny, watching a grown black man behave like an idiot for money for 90 minutes just feels kind of dirty. But you know what? Who am I to tell Tracy Morgan he can’t be the next Adam Sandler? It is the 21st century, after all.
1 comment :
Simple is funny, as log as they don't seem exploited! Whoops!
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