August 16, 2010
Review - " Cop Out " - (on DVD) By Roland Hansen
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Cop Out
Directed by: Kevin Smith
Starring: Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, Kevin Pollak, Adam Brody,
Guillermo Diaz, Rashida Jones
When "Cop Out" first hit the theaters I avoided it. Now I'm a big fan
of Bruce Willis but this movie just looked too silly, and I was right.
Willis has the ability to play a number of different types. He's
primarily an action film star and plays the tough guy cop very well -
let's face it, this guy is the timex of action hero's - he takes a licking
and keeps on ticking. He has the ability to be equally capable as
either the good guy or the bad guy - he was an icey cool chameleon
in "The Jackal". He can do Drama (The Sixth Sense) and is even
believeable as a romantic lead (The Kid). In spite of his great one
liners in "Moonlighting" and the "Die Hard" flicks, comedy just isn't
his forte.
Bruce Willis plays Jimmy, a New York cop who has worked for nine
years with his partner Paul, played by Tracy Morgan. How Paul ever
became a cop is left to one’s imagination, because I just can’t see
that ever happening.
Willis seems to be having fun playing a character you have seen
him play numerous times. Morgan is one of those very funny guys
who just lets loose and goes crazy. He is very funny at times but is
annoying just as much of the time.
The two are suspended for messing up a long-term investigation by
another pair of detectives, Barry (Adam Brody) and Hunsaker
(Kevin Pollack). These two are basically filling the roles played by Judge Reinhold (Billy) and John Ashton (Taggart) from
“Beverly Hills Cop”.
If Morgan was working alone and using Barry and Hunsaker, the film could have been called “Beverly Hills Cop 4, Son of Axel
Foley.”
Along the way, Jimmy is robbed, losing a valuable baseball card that he has been waiting to sell for a rainy day. That day
comes when his daughter needs about $50,000 to pay for her dream wedding.
As Jimmy tries to retrieve the card from a thief played by Seann William Scott, he and Paul get tangled up in the business of
a gang leader named Poh Boy (Guillermo Diaz).
There are all kinds of goofy instances that are thrown into the hopper, including Paul’s fears that his wife Debbie (Rashida
Jones) is cheating on him, a kidnapping of a woman who can’t speak English, and a scummy second husband of Jimmy’s ex,
played by Jason Lee.
Throw in a lot of gunfights and action sequences with silly comedy bits and outbursts by Morgan, and you have a mindless
and semi-entertaining film. It is the basic recipe of a film you have seen several times, however, and it will not be a
particularly memorable experience.
“Cop Out” is not a bad movie, but it should have been better.
