Review: Cop Out [2010, by Kevin Smith starring Bruce Willis]
By TheLawnWrangler 7 Comments
"I can knit the f*ck out of that f*cking sweater."
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I feel maybe I've been too rough on movies, especially comedies. Not all of them need to be taken so seriously. Some are just for making you laugh; quality entertainment. Kevin Smith's newest non-View Askew film is one for quality entertainment... well... good entertainment. Even though Cop Out isn't necessarily a comedy with depth, it does indeed hold some well timed lines of dialogue you'd expect from a Kevin Smith movie, but in different taste. The trailers released for the film didn't really do it any justice, what so ever. And despite it's context, he even manages to put some geek jokes for a lot of his initial fans to get and laugh at, while still somehow being a little more open to audiences, despite it's vulgarity. I don't know how he did it. Maybe the star power already behind it, you know, general trust in beloved cast. Well regardless of what did it, it works. Of course, nothing is perfect. Some of the acting is strange, essentially hit and miss, there are cliche bits that might make your eyes roll, and a story that has trouble holding itself up, besides it being one that should keep your attention. On the more positive side, this movie shows that Kevin Smith has grown slightly as a director, visually and technically. The film looks good as an action film, and moments of intensity are indeed shot with intensity. I'm proud of Kevin Smith, even though he hasn't really grown up in maturity. But who is complaining, really. Maybe his next movie "Hit Somebody" will show that he knows when to be serious. But lets push that all aside. Cop Out is a fun movie, and that's all I can sum it up to.
Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan managed to be a crack-shot comedy team. Kudos to them. They both get their comedic moments, for the most part busting out jokes that range from moderately funny to pretty funny. But, while being funny, they came off as a little annoying at points. It's as if they were talking with intent of being followed with a laugh track. They might as well of been gradually looking at the camera, making sure it's on them. Also, I think all movie theaters could use a Tracy Morgan subtitle feature, just for when Tracy Morgan is yelling. I mean Tracy Morgan is a loud mother f****r. A lot of the time, I could not tell what the hell he is saying, but I just know that it's pretty funny. And it's a shame, that while Tracy manages to say a lot of really funny lines, he also ends up with dead fish occasionally. Sure they're funny, in a very small chuckle way, but he talks like he's building up to a huge joke, and sometimes that joke just isn't hilarious. Supporting roles from the likes of Sean William Scott, Rashida Jones, and Adam Brody all have their moments, with the exception of occasional annoyances from Sean William Scott. He has a role as this strange comic comic relief that is really annoying but funny. The sad part is that he is funny occasionally, but for the most part he is very annoying, with his constant sex jokes and immaturity. I suppose all of this stupidity is a given, with the film being a bit of a dumb buddy cop-comedy. Yes, it's annoying at times, but overall, they make the movie entertaining, and do manage to be funny.
As you may know, this script was not written by Kevin Smith, which explains the lack of monologue and long dialogues. Well, they're there, but the film isn't driven by words, which is a given since it's an action film. My biggest problem with the script is that it gets too cliche at points. I don't know if they intended on that, kind of like in a parody sense, or they just felt the need to do so. Felt the need to bring in one drama aspect of the protagonists and then occasionally go hey, remember this guys situation, feel bad for him. I mean we already care for the protagonists, since we've already established them as our heroes. I don't see why we have to make Paul's wife look like she's cheating on him or Jimmy's daughter's wedding getting payed by her step-father rather than him due to him being a little strapped for cash. Okay, the Jimmy's daughter thing actually plays into the story, leading them into this whole Po-Boy situation. Still, some of it felt unnecessary, like the two bully cops, one of the protagonists, getting marked as a dirty cop, a bad guy with a strange obsession and tortures his own henchmen who do wrong, and a damsel in distress. Also, sorry to bring this up, but who the hell can spend 9 freaking years with Tracy Morgan, every freaking day. Just a bit of commentary, because I would go crazy, because he'd try to be funny, and succeed at times, but end up bringing up some failed jokes that would just make me nod in disapproval.
Plus, half the time, the jokes brought up aren't really clever, they're just well timed. Kind of like Dane Cook's earlier stand up bits. Just pop some sex jokes, a poop joke, more sex jokes, a joke about a gangster knitting (which was pretty funny), and etc. Of course, it's funny, but there's no style to it. Kind of a shame coming from a Kevin Smith production, but what can you do, as a director I don't think the original writers would appreciate him re-writing the script to his whim. And, for the most part, the humor works, even though it's a bit disappointing. In fact, it seems more in the vain of Dane Cook humor, sprinkled with a Tracy Morgan special, really, which is how I can kind of see it being more open to audiences. I guess it's more comfortable to them, being vulgar while familiar. It's kind of cute, if I could put it any other way; very juvenile. It'll work for some, and just make others go, "Really?"
I've always noticed as a Kevin Smith fan that his style is in script work; mainly dialogue. But this time around, since he wasn't writing the script, I was genuinely worried. Wouldn't you be if Kevin Smith was only directing an action movie? Well he proved me wrong, because Cop Out looks and feels pretty good. Kevin finally got the camera moving some, and even got some really nice shots on there. It's like he took a queue from director friend Quentin Tarantino, because as far as a Kevin Smith movie goes, this looks good. In moments of intensity and action, there were speedy zooms (in and out), great landscape shots, nice Alfanso Cuaron-like shaky camera (very organic and present, like the camera is actually a character), and generally a good sense of motion. I know it goes without saying that being an action movie, Kevin needed movement, or this would just turn out badly. But honestly, overall, it just looks and feels satisfactory. Of course, in moments of talk, some parts even looked good, like a silhouette bandy scene between our two protagonists at a nice angle. I'm proud of Kevin Smith, for managing to become a much better director, and still being able to direct without writing the script. It wasn't auter status direction, but it's good.
To top things off, even the soundtrack was very interesting. The original score consisted of some parody-like work on an 80's cop show. It sounded fun, but sometimes it just didn't match with what was going on, which prevented it from helping the mood. Additional songs were placed very well, keeping things sounding cool or tough when they need to. It's editing was very well done, especially with Black Betty by Ram Jam. That song can be annoying as hell in the beginning, but they managed to skip the singing and go straight to the intense drum-solo bridge to match with a well shot parkour scene. They've managed to skip the bad part of Black Betty and skip straight to the intense part. Finally, someone freakin' does it. I mean, I'm sure someone has done it before, but this just made me happy. Overall the soundtrack sounds pretty good, well picked, but some of the score, while sounding good, was just poorly placed.
Cop Out isn't anything special on the surface, but to Kevin Smith fans, it's a little impressive. And good old Kevin is right; critics can pan on the film all they want, it's still a funny movie. Of course, it isn't a perfect comedy, but it's funny, more than I thought it could've been. It is flawed for sure, and isn't the funniest of Kevin's movies, but outside of comedy, it's technically and visually superior to almost all of his films. Kevin should be proud. He's improved, in several areas. He just needs to move on to better things than dick and fart jokes. But he'll get there. Overall, Cop Out is just a fun movie that is funny and an improvement on the directing style of Kevin Smith. Sure, it isn't the funniest, and it feels very cliche in places, but that's besides the point that it's just fun to watch. Though, I still wish they stuck with the original title, A Couple of Dicks. You should have fun with this one, if you try to not take things too seriously.
3.25 out of 5. Kudos Kevin Smith, it looks good. Now, just work on developing your comedy style, or going back to basics, friend. Also, make a 4th Q&A DVD dammit!
