Post−Oscar season is an interesting time of year for the film industry. With last year's greatest hits still fresh in the audience's mind, studios try different strategies to draw audiences to theaters. Though some movies, like Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island" (2010), are early−bird awards fodder, most are never meant to compete in the major leagues. For the most part, the studios' goal seems to be to distract viewers from a dreary winter and the overhyped nominees.
"Cop Out," the latest misguided studio film from everyman indie director Kevin Smith, is no exception. The film is an ill−advised attempt at the buddy cop, action−comedy genre: generic, predictable and without teeth. Those looking for a decent Bruce Willis romp would do better to dust off the "Die Hard" (1988) DVDs.
Grizzled veteran New York Police Department cop Jimmy Monroe (Willis) is barely getting by on his salary, and to make matters worse, he can't afford to pay for his daughter Ava's (Michelle Trachtenberg) upcoming wedding. Rather than let her smarmy stepfather Roy (Jason Lee) pay for it, Jimmy decides to sell a valuable baseball card.
Meanwhile, his goofy−yet−endearing partner of nine years, Paul Hodges (Tracy Morgan), suspects his wife Debbie (Rashida Jones) of infidelity. When Jimmy gets robbed while attempting to sell the card, the partners stumble on a drug lord's plot to expand his business. But before they take down the bad guys, they first have to deal with their own problems as partners.
Writers Robb and Mark Cullen draft their first feature film script with all the grace of bad fan fiction, checking items off a list of cop−movie clichés without a hint of irony. They are even unable to resist such archetypes as the disgruntled police chief who suspends the gung−ho pair for taking too many risks. Awkward references to Wikipedia.org and Internet memes come off as desperate attempts to appear relevant and cool, and the dialogue is often painfully predictable: Before the villain kills one of his gang members in a church, he prays: "Bless me, Father, for I am about to sin."
It's also clear that the Cullen duo wrote "Cop Out" with Willis and Morgan in mind — their characters are nothing more than their popular personas. To no one's surprise, Jimmy is a sarcastic tough guy with a soft spot for his estranged family, and Paul yells frequently and says bizarre and inappropriate things. But at least it looks like the lead actors are having fun, which is a small but appreciated step above phoning in their performances.
The pair's relationship, however, has zero depth. It's nearly impossible to believe that Jimmy and Paul have been partners for nine years, and the same carelessness of characterization applies to everyone else in the movie. The villain, Poh Boy (Guillermo Díaz), is given no motivation other than greed, so Díaz has no choice but to play him as a silly, overblown Hispanic gangster caricature.
These character deficiencies would not be a problem if the film remained a lighthearted, goofy comedy, but it occasionally turns to the troubled relationships Jimmy and Paul have with their significant others. These plots have the potential to be compelling, but so little screen time is devoted to them that the wasted talents of supporting cast members Trachtenberg, Jones, Lee and Adam Brody remind the audience of the kind of movie this could have been with a better script.
Lee, a regular in Smith's films, also reminds the audience that the director of "Clerks." (1994) and "Zack And Miri Make A Porno" (2008) is behind "Cop Out," raising one simple question: Why? Smith's presence is barely felt at all. This is his first time directing a script he didn't also write, and his shortcomings prove that he still has a lot to learn about filmmaking. Instead of bringing irreverence to these standard buddy cops, "Cop Out" is a failed homage to the genre.
