COP OUT (D-)
(Rated R for profanity, sexual references, violence): Not only is this an unfunny comic/action flick about a pair of NYPD cops - one black, one white - but the ultimate reaction to it is that of 110-minutes of tired, boring tribute (?) to the buddy/cop flicks of the 80s - about an on-duty odd couple, both with family distractions, both willing to get into any kind of trouble - even becoming laid-off for a month - to solve individual problems which embroil them in the actions of Mexican drug dealers.
Originally called "A Couple of Dicks" (yeah, that's the kind of subtle flick it is), this unfunny comedy follows the Laurel/Hardy pair in & out of trouble as one (Bruce Willis trying very hard to play the straight man) loses his precious baseball card (worth enough to pay for his daughter's upcoming wedding) while the other (Tracy Morgan trying equally hard to use his stand-up comic technique to force some laughs from his already stupid character who is obsessed with marital jealousy without a cause) perform their NYPD routine of bumbling sleuths in totally illogical situations of their own making - you've seen it plenty of times before, and - oh, the plot doesn't matter; it's all the ha-ha in/out jams, chases, explosions, and enough profanity to almost outdo the blood-letting along the way. The lame script, a by-the-numbers plot with next to no dialogue written out (leaning all too heavily on Morgan for the so-called improv humor) heralds from the brothers Rob & Mark Cullen.
Originally called "A Couple of Dicks" (yeah, that's the kind of subtle flick it is), this unfunny comedy follows the Laurel/Hardy pair in & out of trouble as one (Bruce Willis trying very hard to play the straight man) loses his precious baseball card (worth enough to pay for his daughter's upcoming wedding) while the other (Tracy Morgan trying equally hard to use his stand-up comic technique to force some laughs from his already stupid character who is obsessed with marital jealousy without a cause) perform their NYPD routine of bumbling sleuths in totally illogical situations of their own making - you've seen it plenty of times before, and - oh, the plot doesn't matter; it's all the ha-ha in/out jams, chases, explosions, and enough profanity to almost outdo the blood-letting along the way. The lame script, a by-the-numbers plot with next to no dialogue written out (leaning all too heavily on Morgan for the so-called improv humor) heralds from the brothers Rob & Mark Cullen.
The script is one reason for skipping this unfortunate mess; the other has to do with the direction, from - of all people - Kevin Smith, whose low budget, laid-back 1994 "Clerks" was such a sensation when it first came out. Smith might be handy with the laissez-faire kind of material - youthful amateur cast & improv - but by relying here on one comic (who motor-mouths without end with exceptionally unfunny, repetitious stuff, saliva spewing as he does so: "You wouldn't do that - no, you wouldn't, you wouldn't, no, no, no - you ain't gonna do that - OH! You did!") while Smith relies on the other things that made him popular with younger audiences: lowbrow toilet humor, penis jokes, defecation, ongoing vulgar language & very sloppy handling of details. He is also to blame for sloppy editing while he relies heavily on that one running don't-do-that patter joke between the two buddies that isn't even funny the first time, but after half a dozen times or moreŠ (Only one white-haired lady in the audience who might have been on a pop corn high laughed so much she could barely control herself; the rest sat with me in silent disappointment.
I guess you get the message. Oh, there is one redeeming feature: David Klein's camera work is classy, really too classy for the material, but it does prevent one from walking out after the first few minutes. (Grade: D-)
