A Reel Review: COP OUT

Action stalwart Bruce Willis and SNL graduate Tracy Morgan team up for a buddy-buddy cop flick in the form of COP OUT, which attempts to mix comedy and drama with some mixed and often empty results. With the laughs numbering in the single digits and the drama on the light side, COP OUT offers little to latch on to.

Jimmy (Willis) has his rare baseball card stolen by a thief (Seann William Scott). The hocking of the card is Jimmy’s only way of paying for his daughter’s lavish wedding (Michelle Trachtenberg of BUFFY fame). Jimmy and his NYPD partner Paul (Morgan) track down the card to a drug dealing gangster, all while protecting a rival-gang’s mistress, and dealing with Paul’s marital problems.

The endgame of COP OUT is for Jimmy to get his card back. It is meant to be an emotional draw and to bring the audience on his side. That focus gets lost and moved around a lot, as side stories with Paul and the mistress derail things. What also hurts is the phone-in performance by Willis. He exerts little heart behind his actions and lines, and it seems like he doesn’t care. Part of the problem could be blamed on the paper-thin script, but either way the audience has little reason to connect. Paul’s purpose in the narrative seems to be to provide laughs, and he gets most of the few chuckles (although a lot are over the top). Morgan carries his role well as the goofball of the film, which is why his marital-issues story comes off as out of place for him. Unfortunately for Morgan, the comedy routines also suffer from a weak script, which offers very few hooks, is lacking real wit, and is far from classic. Willis and Morgan have decent chemistry, but the good moments are rare. Top all this off with a few very un-interesting villains, and COP OUT borders upon boring.

The action sequences, which could have saved the movie, are dull as well. The gunfights are very plain, with no feelings of dread or excitement coming across. The lone car-chase scene starts off quick, and ends just as fast. The chase is also filmed at night, which is a bit of a “cop out” in itself; the filmmakers were able to get away with not having to show everything. It’s as disappointing as it is frustrating.

The rest of the cast does well with the thin material. Scott gets a few laughs, but the character is very one-dimensional and his shtick gets old in a hurry. Trachtenberg lights up the screen in her limited time, and appearances by Jason Lee and Kevin Pollack are welcome albeit short.

COP OUT is director Kevin Smith’s first attempt at a film in which he did not write, and it shows. The film is devoid of any wit, cleverness, or heart that he (or anyone else) could have brought in. With the exception of a few doses of his recycled toilet humor, it doesn’t feel like a Smith film at all. It seems that he did little to contribute other than showing up on set enough of times to get his name in the credits. His touch is absent, and it’s easy to wonder if he cared about the material. With him not showing any passion for it, no one else should have a reason too either.

BOTTOM LINE: Fuck it.