CHIPs

Remember 21 Jump Street (2012)? Boy that was a fun movie. In many ways it was the perfect meta-commentary of the type of low-stakes, low-rent, low-brow crap Hollywood has been throwing at us recently like chimps in a mismanaged zoo. Literally anything and I mean anything with even a modicum of franchise potential is being made and remade and remade again these days. Thus when 21 Jump Street (based on a soapy cheap-looking TV show) reared its ugly head, I for one was clenching for an awful night at the cinema.

In many ways I was expecting something like Chips, i.e. an ill-conceived, aged and offensive grotesquery that at best is a watered down version of literally everything you've already seen. Remember all those completely forgetful Martin Lawrence clones that were hammered out one-by-one in the early 2000's? Me neither; how about those equally forgettable Kevin Hart movies? Okay, getting warmer. Well imagine that plus a big fat layer of tepid, lazy direction and you got the basic ingredients for what should honestly be renamed "Bullchips." Chips was directed, written and stars Dax Shepard who you may remember as the dude in Without a Paddle (2004) who was not Matthew Lillard or Seth Green. Here he plays Jon Baker, an over-the-hill Motocross athlete who, according to co-star Michael Pena, is "always two-beers too familiar." He's the typical California "dude" who's far too self-involved to notice he's a walking, talking stereotype. Or at least he is until the script asks him not to be.

Speaking of stereotypes, Michael Pena takes the place of the rambunctious Erik Estrada as Poncherello. In this universe he's an undercover FBI Agent searching for dirty cops, stolen loot and California dimes willing to give it up to the "Ponch". While it's easy to say Pena is the best part of this movie; saying that would be like complimenting the only cylinder firing on a broken motor.

Chips is based off the famed 1970's TV show which ran from 1977 until 1983. As you would expect from something that hasn't been figuratively opened since the 70's, this film is a festering gob of unrecognizable gunk. The police procedural portions of the film are rote and redundant while the duo-building moments of banter reek, of awkwardness and fragile male egoisms that haven't been funny since the Reagan Administration. Yet there they are, on the screen just begging audiences to laugh as Baker and Ponch discuss at length the preference and frequency of night-long a**-licking.

Aside from the film's boorish leads, Chips has a hard time communicating who or what we should actually care about. The audience is made aware of who our bad guys are long before our leads do, yet the film goes through so many airless, dimensionless minutes trying to coax our heroes in the right direction. Then the film goes into fruitless avenues to play out juvenile bits for the sake of little or no information pertinent to the story. Then, to add insult to injury they flip through a Highway Patrol database and randomly point to their bad guy because of nothing more than a mean look.

It gets worse. Shepard's Baker for example takes a lot in stride – His wife's obvious infidelity, his advanced age, Ponch's bathroom habits etc. He takes it all in stride with the exception of his work which he takes on with the vigor of a newly endowed meter maid. It's supposed to be a reoccurring joke yet because the movie is so shoddily edited there are so many, either setups that are never executed or comedic payoffs that seem to come out of nowhere. Then they simply drop it in favor of Ponch's romance, I guess with a fellow officer (Bock)? Through all the mired, half-realized nonsense, only one thing remains clear – Chips was trying, trying to follow the exact same playbook as 21 Jump Street. Yet while 21 Jump had the rare quality of being reliably absurd and self-referential, this thing is just a vulgar, incompetent mess with little worthwhile to say other than "watch out for yoga pants!"

All too often people like to rag on movies like this. Not every movie to hit the cinema will be Oscar worthy, Not every movie will be written with a story that will move you to tears or challenge your thinking. Set your expectations for the movie you will see and you are less likely to be disappointed.

Chips is an entertaining cop buddy flick, rated R and has some adult humor. Both Pena and Shepard play their parts well and along the way the movie pokes fun at itself and the genre. There are plenty of laughs to be had here and overall the movie went at a steady pace. There is nothing ground breaking in it but I wanted a laugh, I got a laugh. Hopefully it does well enough at the box office to get a sequel.

Don't listen to the bad reviews. This movie was funny and wild; pure entertainment. Solid plot, great one-liners, excellent cast. The action scenes do not disappoint. This movie is thoroughly engaging from start to finish. It's just a comedy, it's not trying to win an award. Sit back, relax, and laugh.

When I go to a movie that is a slap stick comedy, I do not expect The Godfather! This was a good time to laugh! I enjoyed all the puns and the actions was not bad either.

The TV show was not all that either, lets be real! This is 2017, so things are different, there will be guns, sex, and bad language.

Comedian Dax Shepard has been acting on screen for years without making it big. He is perhaps best known as Kristen Bell's husband and being part of the main cast in drama series „Parenthood" which doesn't actually say a whole lot either.

But he is one of those actors who is willing to write, produce and even direct his own stuff if satisfying offers don't come his way. And „CHIPS" must be one of these pet projects, because he fills all four jobs mentioned above, sharing the screen with co-star Michael Peña.

There are actually bunch of other cool faces around in smaller roles, including – of course – Kristen Bell. But it's mostly about Shepard and Peña offering a buddy action comedy, so if you feel like you could like them, it's half a win for the movie already.

(Sadly, there's smaller number of famous friends on screen than in Shepard's previous projects, 2010's „Brother's Justice" and 2012's „Hit and Run". I guess Bradley Cooper and Tom Arnold felt that they have done enough for him and let him sink or swim alone now.)

Shepard is convincing in the sensitive/wise doofus role that he has chosen to himself, although his acting range seems limited in general.

So he has surrounded himself with some rock solid players, starting with Peña who has the coveted ability to make every movie a bit more better just by appearing there. In this regard, he's like a young- ish Latin version of Morgan Freeman, or something.

What is more important here: Peña can effortlessly do action, drama and comedy and there's need for all three here, Shepard couldn't hold the fort alone. And speaking of solid, we also have Vincent D'Onofrio who is every inch as imposing and magnetic as we have come to expect from this veteran thespian.

Based on the classic TV series of the same name (1977-83), it's about the adventures of two California Highway Patrol cops. But it's not the eighties anymore, so we get currently widespread type of raunchy mainstream comedy with some action.

If you want to measure the general style of the story and also the nastiness of the dialogue, you should check out the Red Band trailer, for example. It is not able to effectively share the quite enjoyable buddy comedy vibe „CHIPS" has during most of its running time, but you do get an idea if you would like to see some more of it.

The result is probably most enjoyable for the little teenage boy in all of us, with plenty of cursing, light violence and sex- or body- related jokes. If you can't catch their wave, you will probably be a little tired when the end comes.

I actually enjoyed most of this raunchy silliness although I felt that the ending felt a bit rushed and half-hearted.

It's easy to imagine that the success of „21 Jump Street" movies made pitching the project and gathering the money for „CHIPS" easier for Shepard & Co.

The projects are quite similar: old and loved TV series turned into modern American comedy, two likable guys in the middle of it all, verbally sparring, punching and shooting their way to glory.