Wrong Cops

"This stinks of Germany!," hollers Duke (Mark Burnham), a pudgy, crooked cop, who is one of the many characters in Quentin Dupieux's latest film Wrong Cops. The context involves a shady figure named David Delores Frank (Marilyn Manson) giving Duke a taste of the new-age, Dubstep-esque kind of music the kids are listening to today. The scene is an accurate summation of everything Wrong Cops includes - quirky characters, inane little vignettes, random bits of humor, comedic laxness, and bumping house music housed inside a seventy-eight minute runtime.

This is Dupieux's third feature, his first being the widely-scene sleeper-hit Rubber, involving a killer tire, Wrong, a damning film about a man who wanders into the strangest of circumstances while trying to find his lost dog, and now Wrong Cops, the sorta-kinda followup to his last endeavor. The film continues the line of absurdist, surreal comedy, which is really hit and miss in the long run. However, Wrong Cops has probably more hits than any of Dupieux's previous features. Rubber was great fun for about fifty minutes - the problem was it was eighty minutes long - and Wrong felt like a screen writing exercise involving vapid characters and asinine circumstances clobbered together.

Wrong Cops, similar to Wrong in several ways, flies by the seat of its pants, possessing a vague plot that can be summarized in a sentence and includes numerous vignettes on its many characters. The plotlessness helps Dupieux communicate every cockamamie thing he wants to in a relatively short amount of time, so calling the film a burden on somebody's behalf is quite the overstatement. The story revolves around a band of bumbling cops who accidentally shoot an innocent person and must dispose of his body. Now that the plot is out of the way, the story largely focuses on the antics involving Duke, a hilariously vulgar officer who deals bags of marijuana in secrecy by handing the customer the product inside a dead rat to avoid drawing attention. Duke, however, is at kind of a loss, trying to retrieve money from a customer (Steve Little) who continues to buy more and more marijuana without having the money. Another noteworthy character is Renato (Eric Wareheim), a dopey cop who barely gets by when he's left to his own wit. The only cop who seems to have sense is Shirley (Arden Myrin), who works closely with Duke.

To begin with, the film feels like a series of fifteen minute long skits fit for the lineup of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, strung together in a halfway coherent seventy-eight minute film. The spontaneity and unpredictability of this project can be commended as a rather risky effort by Dupieux but the result feels somewhat incomplete and lacking seeing as there really is no continuity in the film whatsoever. Furthermore, the anti-humor schtick is still wonky, once again leaving me at a point of confusion, as I don't know what the humor is trying to be other than as weird as can be because, as far as I can tell, the entire movement doesn't seem to know what it wants to be.

Wrong Cops, however, is entertaining, albeit disjointed. Aside from the style of humor and situational weirdness that was clearly present in Wrong, the same goes for the easy-on-the-eyes, washed out cinematography, whose color-scheme consists of faded yellow, sky blue, and plain white to make for an always beautiful look. Quentin Dupieux is easily one of the damnedest new filmmakers, and I technically haven't really liked one of his films yet, but his style, efforts to blend contemporary surrealism with comedy, along with persistency into throwing characters and plots together for "no reason" begs to be explored, for it seems genuinely fresh and unique in an age where so much isn't.

Starring: Mark Burnham, Steve Little, Marilyn Manson, Éric Judor, Eric Wareheim, and Arden Myrin. Directed by: Quentin Dupieux.

I like to avoid spoilers in my reviews. This movie is very short, but you'll remember every moment of it. The music is extremely obscure, but draws you in and makes the movie by the end.

It was great to see that the cast and crew didn't take themselves too seriously when making this film. Its not meant to be completely realistic, nor run for Academy Awards.

If you are offended by extreme sexual jokes, and people treating each other horrifically in bizarre social environments, then this movie is not for you.

The film starts off awkward, which sets the pace of the entire movie. The acting is not the most amazing, but its hilarious.

I've watched this movie at least 10 times since I got a copy of it. I've re-watched it with friends who share the same type of humor.

There is a gore scene that's quite disturbing, yet darkly hilarious. I mention that as a warning for people who couldn't stomach it, its quite psychotic. I won't ruin it for people who want to enjoy it.

This movie is best watched knowing almost nothing about it before you see it. Its best for when you don't have time for the usual 1hr45-2hr run time movies that are the norm these days. Wrong Cops is a movie you should also be in the mood for the first time you see it.

There's a lot of people who will hate this movie. Every joke is pure black humor. It seems to take influence from Reno 911 and Super Troopers. It is, however, much less slapstick.

This is the best review I can do without giving away anything, or spoiling anything. I rate it a 9/10 for the category of Black Humor Cult Classics. While its not old yet, people may still enjoy this 20 years from now.

The storyline is very unpredictable. A lot of the characters are unlikeable as people, but enjoyable to observe.

Although being unrealistic at various points, there are a lot of scenes that hit a little "too close to home" for people who have had a rough past. To enjoy this movie, separate yourself from the situations completely and thank heavens you don't live in the same neighborhood as these people.

Please remember that a protagonist doesn't have to be a good person. There are plenty of books and movies where the lead characters are straight up villains. The entire movie is quite amoral, which helps make this a unique little film. Its original, memorable, and not for everyone.

I hope this helps you decide if this is the movie for you tonight.

8 out of 10 is quite a high rating, normally reserved for great films. This isn't a great film but it is a great comedy. It's great because it doesn't try to be funny or really even try to be a story. The concept and idea are strong and funny enough. So many good ideas are ruined because they try to be something and completely fail (anchorman 2, for instance). This is not a mainstream comedy by any shout, it's fresh, subtle and very smooth. Aesthetically and intellectually. This is very brave film making, it doesn't ponder to mainstream acclaim and for that it holds it's integrity. This film simply is what it is. If you like Eastbound and down or Green Wing then i advise you to give it a go, if your cup of tea is 'how i met your mother' then forget it. This isn't for you. I'd actually like to see this as a TV series.

There's no plot to "Wrong Cops." It... just sort of unfolds, like a flower blooming, then withering, then rotting.

The official synopsis claims that "Wrong Cops" is set in a future where crime has been eradicated —but you'd never know this was "SF" by watching this film cold. "Wrong" looks like it was shot during a sunny day in New Jersey or someplace.

Due to this lack of structure, "Wrong" has a anemic, listless, aimless feel, which makes viewing tedious at times. Overall, however, the lack of structure (or maybe the structure I'm not picking up on) adds to the absurdity of the comedy, making it truly funny in places. Additionally, an otherworldly soundtrack of messy, electronic beats strings the movie together, giving it its own identity. I love the music. It makes this movie feel like it's set in another dimension. One character comments on it, suggesting that they may be in Hell: "We have invisible flames around us. You can't see them, but we all have invisible flames around us."

Marilyn Manson has a small role as a maligned high school kid and he's very funny. I've always respected him after watching his insightful interview on "Bowling for Columbine," and he seems like a cool guy, someone who doesn't take himself too seriously. That's the attitude of this film, too. You just laugh at the oddness of it all, and don't get annoyed or angry when the plot doesn't make sense. I've seen other user reviews refer to this as a movie for weed-smokers. I don't smoke pot, but I can see this as perfect pothead theatre.

Parts of the movie that drag tend to be scenes with Eric Wareheim and Arden Myrin. I don't know them from other work—both are comedians, apparently—but the scenes with them (especially Wareheim) kind of suck. Wareheim getting sprayed with pepper spray was slooooow and his comedy mannerisms seem to be him just over enunciating "n" and "t" sounds, like he's doing a cruel impression of a severely autistic adolescent. Props to Mark Burnham, however. He's got real charisma as the bullheaded lead, and the guy playing "Sunshine" looks a lot like Edward Norton. That's funny to me, somehow.

Recommended.

Like a more criminalistic and corrupt Reno 911 mixed with a stoner movie. There are a lot of unfunny parts but somehow that makes the movie better. I'd be interested to know if there was any script at all and, if so, how much of it actually made it into the film.