I expect More

This past weekend the Olympics had an amazing wrap up. Not only did Canada get the most gold medal ever won by a country in the winter Olympics but we beat the US in the gold medal game for hockey! That was one, seriously, intense game. I was glued to the television for the whole game. And I mean whole game. I didn’t even wonder away during commercials, I just could not afford to miss any of it.

I do kind of feel sorry for the Americans though, god are they ugly when they frown. The boys all looked like they were going to cry. They really shouldn’t be so depressed about it though. They are now ranked as #2 in the world. And that means there are a lot of people they are better than. Except Canada.

But that was at the end of the weekend. The weekend started on not such a high note. I went to the movies as usual on Friday and saw Cop Out. I am a huge fan and supporter of pretty much anything Kevin Smith and I just like Bruce Willis. I mean he isn’t the greatest actor but he is damned entertaining. But this?

Officers Jimmy Monroe (Bruce Willis) and Paul Hodges (Tracy Morgan) have been partners for nine years. Their methods are unusual but they get the job done. While Monroe is pawning a rare baseball card at a shop it is robbed and the card stolen. The funds he would receive from the card are the only hopes he has to pay for his daughters wedding. Monroe and Hodges go on a manhunt to track down the thief. The card turns up in the hands of a crazed baseball obsessed gangster.

I know Cop Out was not written by Kevin Smith but I am surprised he chose this to be the first movie that he directs that was not written by him. I know this was just a money making venture to support his indie roots but it is badly written and not funny. Yes Smith did put his mark on the movie which did add an element of fun but it wasn’t nearly enough to save the movie. He put in elements of the original buddy cop movie to the mix, the cheesy synth-pop soundtrack, the pacing of the movie, even the angles of some of the shots. As a movie enthusiast these elements did ring out to me and did not go unnoticed but they are hidden and trampled upon by the rest of the film.

Tracy Morgan is good in small doses, that is why people like his character on “30 Rock”. 5 minutes here, 5 minutes there is more than enough screen time for him. These small bits don’t give you enough time to get bored. But as a main character in a full length movie he just doesn’t work. His ridiculous hi-jinks and outlandish behaviour is just too much and quickly becomes tiring. At first there is a laugh, then a slight giggle, then you are left wondering why you are still watching. As expected he brought nothing new to the movie. He plays the same Tracy as he does on tv but it is like you get to watch one of his fantastically retarded movies that “30 Rock” often makes reference to. Bruce Willis actually seemed to be bored in the movie. He seemed to just be going through the motions to get his pay check lacking the usual spark in his performance that makes him so entertaining. In many scenes he simply stepped back and watches the antics of Tracy Morgan.

But the 2 main characters aren’t the only problem, even the supporting cast seem uninterested in what is going on. There is Sean William Scott, Kevin Pollack, Adam Brody, Rashida Jones, and an appearance by Jason Lee. There is also the clearly melodramatic over acting by the film’s bad guy, Guillermo Diaz. His acting is so excessive, so extra, that it is comical but not in a “ha ha” way.

There are also problems with the script. It is clumsy, stupid, and tries really hard but fails to be funny. Yes there are a couple of chuckles but nothing gut-wrenchingly funny and they are very few and far in-between. I found myself to be bored for a majority of the movie. But even with a not so good script I think it may have been saved by a better actor. Many of the jokes are saved for Morgan and they are wasted on him. If there was someone else, someone with good timing and acting ability, at least they may have been able to pull some of the jokes off.

Cop Out is going to make Kevin Smith have to work to get his fans in the seats for his next movie. I think, like myself, fans of his show up for his brand of humour and expect something good and solid for him. Just because his name is on it was the only reason I even thought of seeing this movie. But even if he is going to “cop out” we still expected him to produce something substantial. This was just a waste of time.

I feel bad saying such bad things about a writer/director that has such talent. But I think he knew what he was producing. Even though he was forced to change the title from “A Couple of Dicks”, Cop Out is a bit transparent.

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