By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
During the 1980s, Mel Gibson/Danny Glover and Eddie Murphy/Nick Nolte raised the "buddy cop movie" bar exceptionally high with films like "Lethal Weapon" and "48 HRS." Those movies had clever dialogue and solid acting which just added up to good old fashion fun.
Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan's latest, raunchy action comedy, "Cop Out" takes the buddy cop genre to a new low.
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Directed by Kevin-- "Too Fat To Fly"--Smith, ("Zack and Miri Make a Porno"), "Cop Out" is one big, sloppy movie.
While the first 20 minutes or so, of "Cop Out" is actually quite funny, the film stumbles badly midway through and never recovers despite the best attempts from Willis and Morgan.
Willis plays Jimmy Monroe and Morgan is his partner Paul Hodges. They make quite a team. With all his buffoonery, it's amazing how Paul even got on with NYPD. Jimmy, is the cool guy. He's been on the force for some time and has managed to put up with Paul's antics for nine years which hasn't gone unnoticed by Paul who gives Jimmy an anniversary card expressing his appreciation for his buddy. It's a love hate relationship for sure.
These two manage to mess up most every case they're on. They stay suspended. When they track down a car thief they get more than they bargained for from an 11-year-old boy who hurls more profanity at them then all of their colleagues combined. They are shown up by a gun toting housewife during a home robbery and are faced with the daunting task of rescuing a hostage who speaks only Spanish.
It doesn't get much better on their latest assignment which includes tracking down a notorious gang member. Things get mighty personal in the mix when Jimmy's prized 1952 Andy Pafko baseball card--worth nearly $80,000--is stolen by a crazy robber (Sean William Scott). That money was going to come in handy for Jimmy to help pay for his daughter's (Michele Trachtenberg) lavish wedding and also to shut up her cocky stepfather (Jason Lee) who insists on flaunting his money before Jimmy at every turn.
Jimmy isn't the only one with personal problems. Paul believes his wife (Rashida Jones) is having an affair and goes to great lengths--installing a teddy bear nanny cam--in their house to find out.
Still, all this law and disorder garners some laughs but not enough to carry the entire movie. Blame that on the lazy script from Robb and Mark Cullen. Sean William Scott steals most every scene he's in. And Morgan, who is fine in small doses like on "30 Rock," where he's reigned in, is all over the place in "Cop Out." Too much Morgan is really bad for your health especially when his toilet humor starts to overflow. And our man Willis does the best he can to play off of it all, but still seems to be wondering how he even got attached to this whole thing.
Initially, "Cop Out" was going to be titled "A Couple of Dicks." That really says it all.
