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Paul (Tracy Morgan), left, gets heckled by a burglar (Seann William Scott) as Jimmy (Bruce Willis) drives in “Cop Out.” |
Kevin Smith apparently grew tired of people always identifying his 1995 comedy “Mall Rats” as the worst movie he ever directed.
Now, he has a new low.
It’s called “Cop Out,” and it’s far worse than his previous worst.
In fact, the only thing more disappointing than Smith’s anemic direction of this shallow and strained Hollywood action comedy is the screechy, juvenile screenplay riddled with dialogue clichés (“That’s what I’m talkin’ about!” “This is crazy!”) and visual clichés (introducing characters by showing close-ups of their shoes) we’ve seen and heard many times before.
Smith can probably take comfort in the fact that unlike his earlier movies (among them “Clerks,” “Dogma,” “Chasing Amy” and “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”), he didn’t write this one.
TV writers Mark Cullen and Robb Cullen did.
If they were smart, they’d enroll in Hollywood’s Witless Protection Program and drop out of sight for a few years.
Bruce Willis, who used to be an actor before he put himself on action-star autopilot, plays Jimmy, a veteran New York police detective clocking nine years as the partner of an irritating, emo cop named Paul (Tracy Morgan, shamelessly mugging while apparently high on overacting steroids).
“Cop Out” instantly announces itself as a clueless cop comedy the moment Paul demands to interrogate a suspect by reciting tough-guy dialogue from crime films as Jimmy keeps a running tab on the movies he plagiarizes.
(Memo to the two Cullens: Never explain an in-movie reference to your viewers. It ruins the joke for the people who get it, and doesn’t help the people who don’t.) (Read more…)