New move is far from a comedy 'Cop Out'

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By Noah Levinson / Senior Staff Writer

published: Thu, 25 Feb, 2010

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photo credit: Courtesy Warner Bros.

Willis and Morgan stage a stakeout in “Cop Out.”

Cop Out

Starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan

Director Kevin Smith

Warner Bros.

Grade: B+

 

“Cop Out” starts with a beautiful shot of New York but sheepishly pans over to the grittier Brooklyn, all to the sweet melodies of the Beastie Boys’ “No Sleep Till Brooklyn.”

It made me realize that all of these fancy cop movies take place in New York, and rarely do films make crummy Brooklyn their setting.

But that’s what Kevin Smith likes to do — take the underappreciated and give it some appreciation.

He made Leonardo, N.J., the home of Jay and Silent Bob in “Clerks” and “Clerks 2.” He even made Monroeville, Pa., the site of “Zack and Miri Make a Porno.”

Half of the reason Smith uses these places is to make fun of the small-town feel and hopelessness of it all, but it also shows a more true depiction of the United States.

“Cop Out” follows the two New York City Police Department officers (Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan) as they try to retrieve a stolen vintage baseball card from some drug-dealing d*cks in Brooklyn.

Willis’ character needs to pawn the card to pay for his daughter’s wedding. If he doesn’t, her new stepfather (Jason Lee, “My Name Is Earl”) will grudgingly cover the expenses — and will not let Willis forget it.

Willis and Morgan work well together in “Cop Out” because they play off each other with every opportunity they get — half of the film contains their banter about random things.

Each actor has his own persona, which a filmmaker gets to manipulate.

Take Willis, give him an estranged wife, a skyscraper in Los Angeles, Austrian terrorists and a “Yippee-ki-yay” catchphrase, and bam — “Die Hard.”

It’s the same for Morgan. Give him Goregasm, and you have “The Legend of Dong Slayer.” Give him Liz Lemon, and you have “30 Rock” on NBC.

But in “Cop Out,” both seem so stripped down that they only need to bring themselves to the film.

It also helps that Seann William Scott, who has mostly had voice roles lately (“The Promotion,” “Mr. Woodcock” and “Role Models”) brings his funniest work to “Cop Out.”

Scott plays a Parkour-addicted burglar who gets caught by the officers.

One of the most hilarious scenes of the new decade by far occurs when Willis and Morgan drive Scott’s character around in their undercover cop car.

Kevin Pollak and Adam Brody are two other NYPD officers who play the “CSI”-like cops-and-robbers role that media have imparted on the profession.

Both duos play stereotypical cop roles. The Brody-Pollak team recite cheesy rehearsed lines, discover meaningless clues and don the sunglasses in full-blown Caruso-style. The Willis-Morgan team shoots first, shoots again and shoots once more for good luck.

Yes. There is gun shooting.

“Cop Out” is a superb comedy, but it also has some d*mn good chase scenes.

One pursuit through a graveyard is without a doubt one of the best chase scenes I’ve seen in recent cinema — next to Quentin Tarantino’s epic chase scene in “Death Proof.”

But there’s this genre developing in Hollywood and slowly getting embraced by audiences — the violent comedy.

“Cop Out” brings to mind films like “Pineapple Express” and “Observe and Report,” both die-hard hilarious but also full of awesome, authentic action sequences.

Sometimes I think action and comedy are like bacon and chocolate. Almost all food goes better with one of the two. Maybe it’s finally time that the mainstream embraced their combination.

 That’s right — I’m saying that “Cop Out” is chocolate-covered bacon. Yummy.

Comments

by Anonymous (not verified) | Fri, 02/26/2010 - 5:44pm

You should be terminated

You should be terminated immediately. You are a complete embarrassment to the film community. What are your criteria for grading films, may I ask? Because frankly, you seem to be the least intelligent person at your respective University.

by Anonymous (not verified) | Fri, 02/26/2010 - 5:38pm

Hey Man, You seem like the

Hey Man,
You seem like the least intelligent film critique in any University publication. You give a B- to Shutter Island and say that none of the flashbacks make sense. You also go far to discuss the ending being a bit drab. I don't know if you saw the same Shutter Island as I did, but Shutter Island was brilliant.
The fact that you gave this a B+ and Shutter Island a B- shows that you have a few screws loose in your noggin. Its not surprising that this school paper also supported Obama. Coincidence? I think not.

by Anonymous (not verified) | Fri, 02/26/2010 - 5:41pm

Thank you, I couldn't have

Thank you, I couldn't have said it better myself

by Ok (not verified) | Fri, 02/26/2010 - 5:37pm

Hi

A b+ to Cop Out and a B- to shutter island all in the same week? You've got to be kidding me. I think the pitt news needs a new movie reviewer

by amateur sex tapes (not verified) | Fri, 02/26/2010 - 10:05am

I've seen that girl

This is crazy. I saw a pre-screening of this moving and recognized one of the minor actresses. She was in the news about a year ago because her boyfriend uploaded a <a href="http://www.rateoursextape.com">home made sex video</a> the two of them shot together. I don't recall if she got any money or anything, but I remember her laywer was all over the morning talk shows.

btw ... the movie wans't bad. Though I prefer the die-hard ones.