Marc Platt Productions and Warner Bros. Pictures.

Written By: Robb Cullen & Mark Cullen

Prior to the beginning of screening “Cop Out”, Warner Bros. unveiled “exclusive” trailers for two of their priority projects for the Spring movie season; namely, “Clash Of The Titans” and the relaunch of the “A Nightmare On Elm Street” franchise. Now, I mention this not to boast about seeing new trailers; rather, as “Cop Out”‘s final credits scrolled on screen and the film was finally over, it seemed, oh I dunno, fitting let’s say that everything Warner Bros. gave me for entertainment were things which had been done before. Whether “Clash” and/or “Nightmare” improve or enhance the original is a trivial thought after sitting through “Cop Out”, a weary and overlong mismatched cop film we have all seen too many times through the years.

For his first film as a director without also writing the screenplay, Kevin Smith is an odd choice for this project. The strengths of a Kevin Smith project – quick-paced, witty, smart dialogue, engaging and identifiable characters, are all non-existent here. Other than a handful of amusing moments, “Cop Out” is rather stale, flat, and uninspired filmmaking.

Initially, the problems begin with the chemistry between Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. Willis and Morgan certainly like one another and are having fun with Smith allowing them to improv back and forth on screen, but you never once believe in the slightest way possible that Willis and Morgan have been partnered together as NYPD for 9 years. Their pairing feels slapped together in a boardroom with Willis looking to reinvent himself and return to box office relevancy and Morgan looking to capitalize on his goodwill from his hilarious work on TV’s “30 Rock”. A bit disingenuous if you ask me.

The premise is unoriginal and the plot hinges on the absurd. Willis and Morgan have been suspended following an informant’s murder during a sting operation and Willis is hoping to use his next month’s pay to fund his daughter’s upcoming wedding. Suspended without pay for 30 days (don’t ask how much Willis’ character earns per month, because it apparently doesn’t matter), Willis decides to sell his most prized possession, a rare 1952 baseball card which recently fetched $83,000 on the trading market. Unfortunately, the trading card shop gets robbed and the baseball card leaves with the robbers. As Willis and Morgan try to find the baseball card, they continue to run into connections with the drug trafficking case which resulted in their suspension. Naturally, the drug lord is a sports memorabilia fanatic(!) and may have the card in his possession. Striking a deal with Willis and Morgan, a stolen vehicle needs to be found and the card will be returned. Or not. So, Smith and the Cullen Brothers (Ed. Note: I said Cullen, not Coen) give us mindless shootouts, relentless stereotypes of Mexican drug culture, action sequences that have no pulse or intensity, and the hot hostage that fits absolutely nowhere in the scope of the film.

“Cop Out” is, in the right mindset, a rather spectacular failure across the board. However, what redeems it as a passable watch are the existence of a handful of amusing moments, which are all prompted by improvisation and actors trying to one up each other. Seann William Scott (Stifler from the “American Pie” films) steals the film in his few short scenes as a Parkour-addicted robber who ranks easily as one of the most antagonistic backseat passengers in any of these mismatched action/comedy cop films. If you are reminded of Joe Pesci in “Lethal Weapon 3″ (and 4), I suppose I can begrudge you that Scott is in the Pesci spot here. However, he is simply too funny to dismiss and his interplay with Tracy Morgan is quite hilarious. Willis and Morgan connect on a couple of zingers and Morgan is really working hard to deliver here. Yet, perhaps victimized by Kevin Smith not writing the script, Smith’s directing of Morgan seems lost and unrefined. Reigning him in would better serve the movie.

Then again, “Cop Out” is so tired and overwrought that the bad suffocates the good. We have the “Beverly Hills Cop”-style score by actual “Beverly Hills Cop” composer Harold Faltermeyer. Smith spikes in rap music from the late 80′s and early 90′s for what reason, I could never determine, except perhaps as a favor to the songwriters. That “Cop Out” is set in present day makes the music selections completely confounding. The action sequences play out with no drama. Shootouts occur simply because Morgan and Willis have to burn through some bullets. Jason Lee and Michelle Trachtenburg drop in for a moment’s notice and other than one great verbal beatdown by Lee to Willis, both are forgotten the moment they depart from the film.

Overall, “Cop Out” is a pretty major misfire; one that undoubtedly looked good on paper (or in that Warner Bros. boardroom), but never figures out if it’s a comedy, an action movie, or a hybrid of the two. While not as horrendous as whatever that Chris Rock/Anthony Hopkins film was a few years back, this is nowhere near a “Lethal Weapon” or even a “Rush Hour 2″.

In fact with “Cop Out” following those “Clash Of The Titans” and “Nightmare On Elm Street” trailers, we have a film that more than lives up to its title and serves as further proof that perhaps they really have run out of original ideas in Hollywood. Wonder if they’ve green-lighted a sequel yet?

Should I See It?

YES

Those in attendance did seem to laugh out loud fairly often, so perhaps the improvisation and oneupsmanship will appeal to fans of Kevin Smith.

Seann William Scott steals the movie right out from underneath Willis and Morgan. His 3 or 4 scenes make the film rather entertaining when he’s on screen.

People do apparently still love the police officer buddy picture, since they continue to be made. Fans of the genre will most likely have little to complain about here I suppose.

NO

Long stretches of time go by where the film just doesn’t do much of anything. Jokes bomb, action sequences are rather tepid, and the whole thing is really rather boring.

Not only do we have another mismatched cops action film, but we also have the return of the stereotypical 1980′s mexican drug cartel as well. Lazy and borderline offensive.

Bless his heart, but I will never for a moment believe that Tracy Morgan is a well-respected 9-year veteran of the NYPD who can brandish a weapon and have marksman-like shooting abilities.