COP OUT is a love letter. It’s a love letter from Kevin Smith to the action comedies that dominated the 1980s both critically and financially, movies like BEVERLY HILLS COP, FLETCH, and pretty much anything else that had a musical score provided by Harold Faltermeyer. For years, Smith has been talking about wanting to do such a love letter, and, thanks to Rob and Mark Cullen who wrote the screenplay, he has it.
But a love letter and clear respect for a sub-genre can only take a film so far. The homage that bounces around the walls of COP OUT like a ricocheting bullet only holds the audience for a finite amount of time. At some point, much like a comedian after the initial greetings and salutations, the film much entertain based on its own merits. COP OUT does this to an extent, and, though it lacks structure in much of its parts, loses its way on a number of occasions, and, for a large part, feels like a highlight reel of Tracy Morgan acting goofy, it has an undeniable heart that comes through. It’s pretty damned funny, too.
Morgan and Bruce Willis play Paul Hodges and Jimmy Monroe, two New York cops, one serious, the other a goofball. I’ll give you two guesses which is which, but you’ll only need one. After a botched stakeout, they find themselves suspended without pay. With only a few weeks until his daughter’s wedding (which he is dead set on paying for), Jimmy decides to sell a rare baseball card. He gets mugged, the card gets stolen, and an unauthorized investigation begins.
Yeah, I know it sounds like a premise used for The Little Rascals, but things turn serious when Jimmy and Paul’s investigation into the stolen card puts them right in the middle of a Mexican drug lord’s business. Things get violent. Things get wacky. Tracy Morgan makes all kinds of wacky sounds and gestures.
It’s a flimsy premise at best, and one can’t help but wonder how many nanoseconds it took Rob and Mark Cullen, the writers behind “Gary the Rat”, to outline it out. Oddly enough, it isn’t the overall texture and fleshing out of the story that gives COP OUT all of its necessary charm. This comes from the trimmings, the little nuances that pop up here and there, little flashes of genius that only lovers of those popular action movies of the ’80s would catch. The villain, played with absolute gusto by Guillermo Diaz, is straight out of LETHAL WEAPON complete with overly dramatic gestures and henchmen who seem to literally pop out of the woodwork to do his bidding. Adam Brody and Kevin Pollack play those other cops in the department, the guys who do everything by the book and end up being the butt of most of lead character’s jokes. The aforementioned Faltermeyer even provides the score here, and listening to it, there is no doubt at all that it is him.
It’s all there, and, unfortunately, as with any love letter that may not necessarily be pieced together as well as it probably should be, much of the humor in these little moments will be lost on many. The Cullens, and Smith at the helm (we’re getting to him soon enough) aren’t exactly playing to the masses here. In fact, Kevin Smith has never been one to do that in the least. Their film isn’t for everyone, but, in the early moments of the film, it almost feels like the decision to hone the feel and style of the film into one, specific demographic wasn’t entirely decided upon.
The early parts of the film feel a bit of a mess. The opening scene consists of Morgan “interrogating” a suspect, spouting out famed lines of dialog from various films, and cutting to Willis who points out precisely what film or TV show it is. It’s a funny scene, and the catalyst comes at a direct reference to DIE HARD, but it feels very out of place. It gives us the idea of who these two are, but it never feels right. The same can be said for a subplot involving Seann William Scott as a parkour-practicing, knock-knock-joke-telling burglar. Sadly, while his ride in the back of the car driven by Willis and Morgan might be remembered as the funniest part of the film, its humor doesn’t gel it into the storyline any more than it can. It just feels out of place.
This may be a side effect of COP OUT being directed by Kevin Smith from a script not written by him. This is something he has never done before, and, while many of his previous films definitely have something to say, COP OUT plays for entertainment value alone. It’s laughs upon laughs and there’s even some action thrown in there to give your jaws a rest, but it has absolutely nothing to say. On top of that, COP OUT simply doesn’t feel like a Kevin Smith film. Now, while this isn’t something that can be held against it in the long run, it may catch some View Askew die hards off guard.
All of this, though, doesn’t keep COP OUT from being an highly successful film in the laughs department, and much of that comes courtesy of Morgan. He’s in full “30 Rock”/Tracy Jordan mode here, and there are some who can’t stand him. For those of you out there, don’t even bother looking at a ticket for COP OUT. Morgan is 75% of this film, and he’s probably 90% of its comedy. He works, and the comedy works through him. It’s almost a shame that it overshadows Willis towing the action line as he’s done for years. He isn’t suited for comedies, even if there’s a bit of action-oriented garnish on the side. The action in COP OUT isn’t much to write home about, and, with the lackluster action comes the lackluster effort by the film’s hero. Nonetheless, Willis seems to be having a fun time in the movie, and it all comes off as genuine even if it never reaches the full potential we know it can.
And that is how COP OUT reads as a whole. The Cullens and Smith alike show a genuine love for the films they are homaging. I would go so far as to say their appreciation for these action films is felt more in COP OUT than Edgar Wright’s was in HOT FUZZ. That doesn’t mean COP OUT is a better example of film making than HOT FUZZ. It isn’t. But the honesty behind it all helps carry a mediocre film much further than it would have carried under the guidance of someone less devoted. COP OUT wears its heart on its sleeve, and, while the actual love for it might not come easily, it is certainly there somewhere under the surface. And, love it or hate it, you can’t disrespect Faltermeyer.
Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
