Cop Out

My Rating: 3/4

Comedy has always varied between different films. Some movies are truly funny and are done right. Some replace that with vulgar jokes and the F-word. And then you have "Cop Out". Which seems somewhat of a hybrid between the two. It's a lot like the more mature version of the "Rush Hour" series. The film stars Bruce Willis(Live Free or Die Hard, above,right) and Tracy Morgan(G-Force,above,left). They are two NYPD cops who are trying to get back Jimmy(Bruce Willis)'s mint condition baseball card that he was going to sell to pay for his daughter's wedding. And Paul(Tracy Morgan) is his partner in anti-crime and is helping him out. But, along the way, they are pitted against a cruel money-obsessed gangster. And are tangled in a long struggle to, well, get a baseball card. But hey, it's worth about 80,000 dollars...or something close to it. So, the plot doesn't include anything too fancy. No work of art. But it does make it work. However, it doesn't do what the ideal comedy would do. I know I mentioned this same comedy principal in my review of "Grown-Ups", that comedy movie must build the hilarity on the situation, not solely on just one-liners. And I felt that "Cop Out" just built off of one-liners. There were some situations where comedy could have built off of but didn't. Although, somehow, a miracle is performed. Whats this? "Cop Out" actually had a lot of hilarious one-liners. Perhaps the funniest line is when the two main characters are talking and at one point Jimmy says "But I already made my decision." and then Paul replies "Hello, the president is black now, we make decisions!". I laughed so hard you have no idea. They are many others like that but that by far was the funniest. The acting is good. Two stars do the job but there's nothing extraordinary. But I did feel that the story lacked some detail. It seemed jumbled and could have been better. But the funny thing is that the movie seems to almost tell you that it's excuse for that is the funny comedy. And well, that my friends, is a cop out. While I did enjoy watching it, it was slightly predictable and had some flaws. But overall, it WAS pretty funny and this film seems to make it work. If they turn this into a series, I do think it has the potential to overcome even the"Rush Hour" series which is like this film's cousin. But for now, it has plenty of time for improvement.

Starring: Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan Director: Kevin Smith