FOLIO
by Rick Grant
By now, the black/white buddy-cop genre is cliche, with its tried and true formula. We look back to the plethora of buddy-cop movies such as 48 Hours, Beverly Hills Cop, Lethal Weapon, Bad Boys et al and see the patterns and cliches.
This film, directed by Kevin Smith, is true to the formula and a vehicle for Tracy Morgan, who has made a name for himself on 30 Rock. His goofy style of comedy works well in the context of the television scripts. However, a little of Morgan’s shtick goes a long way. In Cop Out, Morgan’s ad lib craziness ceases to be funny half-way through the running time.
More significantly, Bruce Willis’ hip cool persona never seems to click with Morgan’s silliness. Still, Morgan is wildly popular with 30 Rock fans who will flock to see him on the big screen.
Morgan’s comedic style is similar to Martin Lawrence’s oddball shtick, but taken much further out. Morgan can be funny with his cop role in this scenario, it’s just his shtick lacks substance, and consequently, wears thin.
The scenario involves Det. Jimmy Monroe (Bruce Willis) daughter’s wedding. His ex-wife has married a wealthy husband who volunteers to pay for the wedding (58 grand) to humiliate Jimmy. But, Jimmy has an ace in the hole with his rare mint-condition baseball card that he plans to sell to pay for his daughter’s wedding.
After a shootout that goes terribly wrong, Jimmy and his partner, Paul Hodges (Tracy Morgan) are suspended for 30 days without pay. When Jimmy goes to cash in the baseball card, the store is robbed and the thieves take his precious card. So, Jimmy and Paul go after the thieves to retrieve the card.
Now the movie turns into a chase scenario with twists and turns as Jimmy and Paul, who are not acting as police officers, go after the bad guys. At every turn, things go wrong and the pair of suspended cops get further mired in the muck of strange circumstances.
Of course, Jimmy and Paul have nothing to lose so they don’t have to play by the police rules. This leads to many awkward situations and dangerous encounters. Yes, this scenario almost writes itself as the two bumbling detectives get deeper into the criminal underworld.
For Tracy Morgan fans this film will be laugh out loud funny. My guess is Cop Out will be the number one film on its opening weekend.
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