Not written by, but directed by Kevin Smith. There’s a first. Cop Out is the first movie that Kevin Smith has directed, but has not written and its the first Kevin Smith movie produced by a major studio, Warner Bros. Is that a good thing? Well its not an entirely bad thing either!
Jimmy Monroe (Bruce Willis) is a veteran cop in the NYPD who is about to hand over a life long treasure, a famous baseball card that he had since he was a kid, to pay for his daughters wedding. Jimmy doesn’t earn alot, and his ex-wifes new bodily fluids swapper is loaded. So after promising to pay for his little darlings wedding, he has no choice but to sell his baseball card in the local memorabilia shop. As he’s about to part with said card, the store gets robbed and, yup, you’ve guessed it, his card gets stolen in the process. So, with his partner Paul Hodges in tow (played by 30 Rock’s Tracey Morgan) they go about getting back the wedding funding baseball card from a memorabilia obsessed gangster. As they go about getting down to business, they come across Dave who has broken into a house and has a habit of taking a shit in houses he burgles. Dave is played by Seann William Scott and tags along in handcuffs for the rest of the journey.
It’s hard to know what to expect from Cop Out. When you see Kevin Smith’s name attached (it’s not even on the poster) you should get some idea of what to expect. But this is Kevin directing and nothing more. He is running off somebody else’s script, which was on the blacklist back in 2008. The blacklist being a list of the best unproduced screenplays. The dialogue isn’t up to par with what Smith might have written, and visually it’s certainly an evolved Kevin Smith as director. But is it any good?
Bruce Willis does the same thing he does in every movie, and that’s just be Bruce Willis. Tracey Morgan on the other hand, is on fire. To be fair they 2 have great chemistry as partners and with the addition of Seann William Scott, you have a pretty solid, but award-less performances. There’s a fair bit of funny here too, with a number of laugh out loud occasions to keep the audience amused and that is nicely topped off with plenty of improv from Morgan and Scott. But the story is simply bonkers. A baseball card? Come on!!!
That aside, Cop Out is not something that will blow your mind, but it will entertain at times and to be honest, it never claims to be anything else. Sure it’s not up there with the likes of other buddy cop movies, ala Lethal Weapon, but none the less, it does its job of evoking a smile or three. No hidden meanings, no hidden context. Certainly not one of Kevin Smith’s best, but its pointless to be comparing this to Clerks or Dogma. Just leave your brain at the door enjoy it for what it is! A bit of escapism with mindless dialogue and sprinkles of funny.
For more on Cop Out, make sure you listen to my hour long interview with Kevin Smith, available on iTunes.
Jimmy Monroe (Bruce Willis) is a veteran cop in the NYPD who is about to hand over a life long treasure, a famous baseball card that he had since he was a kid, to pay for his daughters wedding. Jimmy doesn’t earn alot, and his ex-wifes new bodily fluids swapper is loaded. So after promising to pay for his little darlings wedding, he has no choice but to sell his baseball card in the local memorabilia shop. As he’s about to part with said card, the store gets robbed and, yup, you’ve guessed it, his card gets stolen in the process. So, with his partner Paul Hodges in tow (played by 30 Rock’s Tracey Morgan) they go about getting back the wedding funding baseball card from a memorabilia obsessed gangster. As they go about getting down to business, they come across Dave who has broken into a house and has a habit of taking a shit in houses he burgles. Dave is played by Seann William Scott and tags along in handcuffs for the rest of the journey.
It’s hard to know what to expect from Cop Out. When you see Kevin Smith’s name attached (it’s not even on the poster) you should get some idea of what to expect. But this is Kevin directing and nothing more. He is running off somebody else’s script, which was on the blacklist back in 2008. The blacklist being a list of the best unproduced screenplays. The dialogue isn’t up to par with what Smith might have written, and visually it’s certainly an evolved Kevin Smith as director. But is it any good?
Bruce Willis does the same thing he does in every movie, and that’s just be Bruce Willis. Tracey Morgan on the other hand, is on fire. To be fair they 2 have great chemistry as partners and with the addition of Seann William Scott, you have a pretty solid, but award-less performances. There’s a fair bit of funny here too, with a number of laugh out loud occasions to keep the audience amused and that is nicely topped off with plenty of improv from Morgan and Scott. But the story is simply bonkers. A baseball card? Come on!!!
That aside, Cop Out is not something that will blow your mind, but it will entertain at times and to be honest, it never claims to be anything else. Sure it’s not up there with the likes of other buddy cop movies, ala Lethal Weapon, but none the less, it does its job of evoking a smile or three. No hidden meanings, no hidden context. Certainly not one of Kevin Smith’s best, but its pointless to be comparing this to Clerks or Dogma. Just leave your brain at the door enjoy it for what it is! A bit of escapism with mindless dialogue and sprinkles of funny.
For more on Cop Out, make sure you listen to my hour long interview with Kevin Smith, available on iTunes.
