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Monday, January 10, 2011

MOVIE REVIEW - Copout

I shan’t be spending too much time on this review. Not because of how terrible it is, but because I love Kevin Smith. I love his movies. I love his scripts. And I adore Bruce Willis. But Copout isn’t simply a weak movie; it’s a waste of a movie. Period.

If you’ve seen any buddy-cop flick you know what you’re in for here. The fact that this sub-genre is still alive after Edgar Wright demolished it in Hott Fuzz is astounding. What’s worse is that Kevin Smith couldn’t even come up with any new gags to make it stand out. It is about as dumb as you can imagine it is.

Bruce Willis is an actor always worth paying to watch. He’s just an entertaining individual and if there’s anything nice to say about Copout, it is the simple fact that Willis graces it with his presence. If I were to pick the worst aspect out of the film, it would be Willis’s opposite, Tracy Morgan. Watching Morgan attempt lines is about as enjoyable as having a diseased chimpanzee shit in your mouth.

And no tragedy of cinema would be complete without an appearance from Sean William Scott. Although Smith was nice enough to grant me the pleasure of watching him dragged behind a car. It’s these small moments the film sparks, but once the flash is gone we get the deep void that is Copout.

The best example is the interrogation at the film’s start. Morgan’s attempt to scare a man by using classic movie lines gives Willis plenty of commentary to satisfy Kevin Smith nerdom. It was a reflexive moment that could have carried the entire film, but this is not your typical Kevin Smith outing. It’s a studio attempt at another movie with two dysfunctional cops getting in trouble. It doesn’t have to sound as lackluster as it is, but since the concept has been explored so many times I suppose the writers figured, “Why bother?”

So what does Copout have? Well Morgan is having marital problems, so we get to see the fascinating subplot of a cop spying on his wife. Oh, don’t worry! I won’t spoil whether or not she really is cheating on him! There’s a damsel in distress somewhere in there. Gee, and what buddy-cop movie would be complete without the main characters’ suspended from active duty? It raises the stakes, man! They have to soldier on despite having their shields revoked! Think of the suspense.

Apparently Smith took a huge pay cut to make this movie and did it as a career move for future projects. I can certainly understand that. To move up in the world you have to make some unflattering plays. It doesn’t excuse the ugliness. A platypus is still a platypus and a bad movie is still a bad movie. I could dance around everything that’s wrong with the film all day, but that’s too depressing. The movie is called Copout, do you need any more of a warning?

* out of ****