Top Cops

So help me, I found Cop Out to be not completely bad. Yes, that's a backhanded compliment, but I assure you that it's completely deserved. Cop Out, from its inane title to its derivative plot, has no business being anything but a hokey hoedown of banal buddy cop dopey behavior. And yet's it's not as gut-wrenchingly awful as all that.

Cop Out stars Bruce Willis and Tracey Morgan as veteran police partners on the trail of a gangbanger (Guillermo Diaz) who loves baseball memorabilia and who just happened to steal Willis' super-valuable baseball card, the one he was going to have to sell to finance his daughter's wedding; better to do that than have his wife's new, rich husband pay for it all.

But that cop-movie aspect is almost irrelevant. What matters, and the only thing that really puts this one in the same general universe as the likes of, say, Lethal Weapon (in terms of approach, not overall quality), is the thrust-and-parry repartee between straight-arrow Willis (a 180 from his John McClane character/caricature) and loose-cannon, uber-hip Morgan. They're funny together, and they're given funny things to say in funny situations. That helps a lot.

What's puzzling about this movie is that Kevin Smith directed it, the first of his that he didn't also write. That's puzzling because the dialog isn't really this movie's strong point. If I hadn't seen Smith's name attached to this in writing, I'd never have guessed he had had a hand in it.

But ultimately, it doesn't matter much, as it's just plain not terrible. You can tell I'm trying not to go overboard in my hyperbole, right? I want to present you with a level-headed, even-handed look at whether this is worth your time. And it is, with lowered expectations. It's amusing, although not for the whole family to watch.

There are so many films within this genre, plus a whole host on TV, that the risk of making it is that we have all seen it before. There is inevitably a touch of that in this film, but it does have some solid acting by all the main characters to give it some impetus at crucial times.

Cop Bruce Willis must raise face saving money for his daughter's wedding and he has worked out a legal way of doing so. From there we have a carefully interwoven sequence of events that lead us through the story to an ending not quite what you may expect.

It is enjoyable, funny in places, doesn't take itself too seriously, and whisks you through a couple of hours. Not everyone's cup of tea given the competition but still an okay film. Six out of ten.

This movie was alright, but it failed to become something spectacular and memorable.

First of all, I am going to comment on the cast and the acting. As for Bruce Willis, well his acting is great, as usual, and he was good for this role. Now, for me, what really carried this movie was the character that Seann William Scott played, it was hilarious, even though it was just a supporting role. He was so cool in this role and I loved every moment of it. Now, on to Tracy Morgan, well I have to say that I found him amazingly annoying in this role, and I just wanted to reach in there and .... oh well, never the less, I think a guy like Chris Rock or Chris Tucker might have been better for this particular role.

Moving on to the story. Well, the plot and story was good, and constantly moving, so you weren't really bored at any point in the movie. And there were lots of hilarious scenes and moments as well. And there were also just enough twists and turns in the story to make it interesting.

The music in this movie sort of made me feel like I was watching a re-make of the old Eddie Murphy movies "Beverly Hills Cop". At times it was like the music was a remix or a homage to the music from those movies. That was kind of a bit too much for me.

I hadn't actually heard anything about this movie, prior to picking it up for the first time. But of course, by that way I had no expectations to the movie, which I think worked well in favor of the movie. The movie does provide good entertainment, but there isn't much in it that you haven't already seen in other movies. And for me, personally, this is not the type of movie that I would watch a second time around.

I guess you could call a few scenes mildly amusing but this movie never delivered any laugh out loud moments. It certainly never rings true as an action film. I don't know if they were mocking or paying homage to movies like Lethal Weapon and that's precisely the problem. Bruce Willis was solid but Tracy Morgan was severely out of place. While I find Morgan funny, his act wears thin fast. Also, Kevin Smith experimenting with the hand-held shaky camera craze has to be considered a colossal failure. Maybe it wasn't even intentional but I had to look away from the screen on some simple shots because of the motion. What was he thinking? Doesn't anyone screen the final cut and let him know what was wrong?

After a clumsy operation trying to capture a drug dealer, the N.Y.P.D Detectives Jimmy Monroe (Bruce Willis) and Paul Hodges (Tracy Morgan) are suspended for one month by their Captain Romans (Sean Cullen). Jimmy decides to sell his rare baseball card to pay the expensive wedding of his daughter while his jealous partner believes that his wife is cheating him with their next-door neighbor. When Jimmy is selling his card to a memorabilia store, the place is stolen by two smalltime thieves and the detective loses his card. They track down the thieves and discover that he exchanged the card per drugs with the powerful drug lord Poh Boy (Guilermo Diaz). Jimmy and Paul seek out the gangster that proposes to trade the card per his car that had been carjacked. The detectives find the car but when they open the truck, they have a huge surprise.

"Cop Out" is a film that uses the old formula of combination of action and comedy that usually works. Kevin Smith is no longer that bold independent director from "Clerks" or "Chasing Amy" and follows the easy way of Hollywood making a conventional film, supported by the chemistry between Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. The story is entertaining and predictable. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Tiras em Apuros" ("Cops in Trouble")