YOU'RE NOT GOING TO FALL FOR THE BANANA IN THE TAILPIPE? The problem with Kevin Smith's Cop Out is that it doesn't quite know if it wants to be an homage to 80s/90s interracial buddy cop flicks or a parody of them. Yes, there are amusing moments, but the tone's all over the place and the movie is indeed something of a mess.
The problem with the movie is, in many ways, the best thing about the movie: Tracy Morgan, who essentially is playing 30 Rock's Tracy Jordan thrown into police work. In other words, he often goes off into these unhinged, nonsensical riffs during the movie -- which, while often funny, undermine the credibility the character needs to remain seen as a competent police officer, which he never does. [You never questioned, by way of contrast, whether Axel Foley was a qualified police officer. Here, you're shocked when he does something right. Also, I felt like there was a whole subplot about Kevin Pollak being a corrupt cop which was snipped from the final version.]
Inserting Tracy-being-Tracy into a script originally written for Robin Williams and James Gandolfini, then Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg (plus the goofiness of the Seann William Scott character) sabotaged the authentic tone which the film was otherwise seeking with its Harold Faltermeyer score and solid Brooklyn location shooting. It added jokes at the expense of coherence, and the result is a movie in which you're never quite sure what kind of movie it is. Wait for cable.
There were all kinds of reports that the shoot was an utter disaster, with Willis and Kevin Smith constantly feuding and Willis refusing to take direction from Smith. Add to that Smith's limited familiarity with filming action (seriously, with few exceptions, his films are just people talking to each other in static two-shots), and I'm surprised the film wasn't a complete mess.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to see a good parody of buddy cop movies, check out "Bon Cop, Bad Cop" -- an English Canadian and French Canadian team up to solve hockey themed murders! Starring the guy from "32 Short Films About Glenn Gould."
ReplyDeleteHeh. The banana in the tailpipe line was one of the onslaught of 80's pop-culture references in last week's Psych.
ReplyDeleteI was under the impression that Smith directed and wrote this one, but apparently he just directed. Not like that completely excuses it, but if the script sucks how much can the director do?
ReplyDeleteI was actually warned off of this one by friend who saw it Friday and told me to save my $.
I thought there were plenty of laughs in this movie--I went in with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. But Adam's specific analysis is pretty well spot-on. Matinee.
ReplyDeleteThere are pretty clearly parts of the movie that Smith rewrote (or sounds like he did) -- some of the sexual banter -- and parts of it were Tracy Being Tracy, which it's his job as a director to decide how much is appropriate.
ReplyDeleteThis is the one that was originally going to be called A Couple of Dicks, right?
ReplyDeleteI've been saying for years that Smith should write screenplays and let others direct them, so I was pretty confused when I found out someone paid him (presumably) good money to do the opposite.
ReplyDeleteYou mean it isn't Citizen Kane? What with Kevin Smith going Wellsian in girth if not talent.
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