Space Cop

I'm sad to say that after all the anticipation, Space Cop is fairly underwhelming. It seems strangely uneven, unpolished. And most disappointingly, it's formulaic. I'd hoped for something wittier, more off-the-wall, more creative based on RLM's previous work. Space Cop gave me nothing to think about -- the clichéd plot points, double entendres, tired set-ups, bad models / costumes and archetype characters aren't there to be subverted or analysed, they're just there.

The music works very well, the sets are solid, there are lots of laugh-out-loud moments scattered through. But it's not confident in itself. It feels rushed.

The script in particular feels like a first draft. Motivations and relationships shift wildly from joke to joke - it's hard to understand what we're supposed to think of the characters or how Space Cop in particular is perceived by the others. Sometimes the tone is so muddied it's tricky to tell if a moment is going for humour, tension or drama. At one point the movie slows down so we can watch a striptease and take long, lingering looks at the actress' body. I kept waiting for the punchline, but amazingly it seems to just be there for titillation.

There are highlights. Rich Evans and Jocelyn Ridgely are funny and do very well in their roles. Mike Stoklasa appears to be deliberately hamming it up, which often doesn't 'fit' with the other actors but is enjoyably tongue-in-cheek in itself. The 'real' actors and cameos vary in skill but most are solid and some are great. Len Kabasinski of all people absolutely cracked me up. This movie could have been great.

Overall, Space Cop comes across as either lazy or stumbling. Mike, Jay and Rich have a lot of talent and creativity, but only some of it made it through the filming process on this one.

I was looking forward to this. As other reviewers pointed out, the film has its moments, but it does get tiresome. Particularly Mike's purposefully bad acting. The film really needed a normal person to make the most of Space Cop's flavour of movie script idiocy. The bartender did this, but that was a bit part.

I think the trailer had some of the best bits. I laughed at one of two jokes in the film, but I think it needs a tighter cut - which would certainly improve it, but perhaps not enough to earn more than my generous 6 stars.

With its current pacing, it plays almost as bad as an Adam Sandler movie. Almost.

I cannot believe they managed to convince a megastar like Rich Evans to play in this low budget movie. I don't know about that "Mike" guy, though. Is he some kind of secret a**hole?

The issue I have with Space Cop is that it seems to pull its punches.

Mike, Jay, and Rich come across brilliantly on RLM, but their films feel like a nod and a wink to their existing audience. That's understandable, and for the most part it works well, but I feel that these guys are talented enough to go all in on a legitimate film that isn't relying on their fan-base.

Space Cop is entertaining. The opening hostage situation is old school slapstick, but it works as a set-up. I loved the matter of fact way that Space Cop seamlessly finds himself working for the local police without any attempt to hide his character, and Mike's trench coat revived detective creates a perfect comical partnership. Unfortunately I'm not a big fan of the scripted stuff. Yes there are funny moments, but it never felt like the natural and spontaneous chemistry between Rich and Mike was given any room. A lot of the humour came from seeing funny and talented guys from RLM performing in a film, rather than funny and talented guys simply being funny and talented. Clearly they're not going to make an unintentionally bad film, but why not try to make a genuinely good comedy film. They should back themselves with a bit of confidence in their ability, instead of hiding behind the 'nudge nudge wink wink' approach.

I'd love to see them try their hand at a found footage horror. Mike, Jay, and Rich performing deadpan in one of those cliched door-slamming, forest-running, cellar-screaming set-ups would be a sight to behold.

This movie exists to showcase how every schlocky B movie of the '80s looked and sounded like and to ridicule that by exaggerating all of the bad tropes and characteristics of those films. It is all done intentionally and it's an homage to those very niche films that everyone has watched at least once in their lifetime.

Everything is here: the terrible alien costumes and low budget sets and all-around production value, terrible accents, acting, awful one-liners, and every cliche possible from that era. Music is styled in a synthy way and fits very well.

What is bad is the movie's run time. If it was all focused and condensed in a one-hour movie or even less, it would've been much better. This way you pretty much know after the first 10 minutes what you are getting and it is not really funny or fun to ''enjoy'' it in its entirety. I found it amusing enough to watch it, but I get it if people get tired of it and turn it off. I was thinking about it too. Another problem is comedy. I giggled 2 or 3 times but I cringed throughout the whole film and it can get tiring as the jokes have no breathing space. It is a pretty good movie to laugh at which is its purpose.

I liked some of the jokes and the performances because I love the RLM crew but all in all, this is a below-average parody that even parodies a parody (Scary Movie)...