Thursday, Mar. 04, 2010

Cop Out: Put the cuffs on this film

Kevin Smith has made his living writing and directing his own movies. He doesn’t consider himself a great director, but I love his movies — even the ones not well received by the fan community, like Jersey Girl.

He’s witty, clever in the rapid-fire references, and his stories hit emotional, sometimes transcendental truths that elevate them above being mere comedies — though he brings the funny, time and again.

He’s been trying out different opportunities to build his directing muscles. One such project is as a hired-gun director on the 80s buddy cop, comedy-action flick, Cop Out.

I have to say what ended up on the screen is far below his usual standard of character-based storytelling.

Many of you remember the action movies of the 80s. As far as that genre goes, the 80s were a golden age that gifted us with Rambo, Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Beverly Hills Cop and scads of films from Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme and others. If brawl fests, martial arts and bullet ballets were your thing, the 80s were a great time to be a moviegoer.

Cop Out is a pretty simple movie in setup. NYPD detective Jimmy Monroe (Bruce Willis) and his partner, detective Paul Hodges (Tracy Morgan) were suspended without pay. Monroe is desperate to pay for the very expensive wedding of his daughter Ava (Michelle Trachtenberg), so he decides to sell a prize baseball card.

The card is stolen and ends up in the hands of a Mexican drug lord, who also happens to be a baseball fanatic.

While on suspension, the two detectives deal with personal difficulties and grief from colleagues in hot pursuit of this elusive card.

Now, the cast shows promise. The idea has some semblance of cleverness, but in the actual execution, it falls flat. The jokes are quite clichéd and flat. Smith probably could have polished the script. The action shots seem very plainly shot. And, the drama elements feel like afterthoughts.

Smith’s movies are known for their artful and enthusiastic use of expletives and Cop Out is loaded to the filthy gills with swear words, but frankly, the cursing seems to be in there for the shock.

Films are in the in-between period — out of the holiday movie season, but a while to go until the summer lineup. Some really good films are waiting in the wings. But this film has been retained for questioning — no film felonies here — but lots of misdemeanors call its character into question.

I regret to say I wasn’t arrested by this movie, and it left me feeling blue.