Cop Out [DVD] [2010]

First of all I should state that my low marking is based on purchasing this DVD.

This is not a really bad film, in fact it breezes along amiably enough in its very derivative way. There are a few genuinely funny bits, pretty much all in the trailer. Oddly some funny scenes ended way too early, while some unfunny scenes just went on and on. The action sequences are well done, and some inspired location shooting and casting gives a real urban grit to the film.

Bruce Willis is pretty much Bruce Willis, I do wonder what he was thinking when he took the film on. Perhaps he has a daughter getting married, has lost a prized baseball card and the only way to raise the money to pay for the wedding was to team up with an irritating black sidekick to bring a surprisingly well written villain to justice.

The audio is not entirely audible at times, Tracy Morgan (black sidekick) speaks very quickly at times. The script is not exactly solid gold throughout, they do rather riff on, on the off chance that they might say something amusing at some stage.

Despite being 107 minutes long, it does feel like a long film, having said that, I never felt like giving up on it. Although rated here as a 15, I think an 18 would be more appropriate in view of persistent sexual banter. Most of those concerned have been in better films, but if you caught this on tv or as a rental, you would be reasonably happy with it.

Finally, if the score sounds familiar, it is because Kevin Smith persuaded Harold Faltermeyer, best know for Beverley Hills Cop to dust off his old electronic organ, for some more classic eighties sounds. Now that really is a film that you want to have on DVD.

'Cop Out' is a buddy-cop action-comedy feature that released in 2010 to overwhelming negative reviews by Critics. However, it was a moderate box-office success. On its Home Video release it was more successful becoming the number 1 selling DVD in the US.

The movie centres around two New York Police Officer partners (Bruce Willis & Tracy Morgan) who must trace a valuable rare baseball card, that has been stolen. The main obstacle they must overcome is the dreaded gangster, Poh Boy (Guillermo Diaz).

The movie is clichéd, has a silly plot and the jokes are not new. Right, thats the flaws and a general complaint of a lot of the viewers out the way.

I watched the film with no expectaions and treated it as a stand-alone feature without making any comparisons with classic buddy-cop movies. Also, I'm a big Bruce Willis fan but didn't expect a blockbuster Willis vehicle. All these things helped as I was taken back by how fun it was.

The film has a good pace from the start and is filled with comical situations, which at times are vulgar but generally funny. The gags are not new, however the way they've been presented makes you laugh. The screenplay is tight, making this run-of-the-mill feature into something thats better. The action sequences are exciting and the climax, although predictable is alright. Keep watching once the credits start rolling as there is a really funny scene in store.

The film had the feel of the 80's era, which I loved and on watching it time passed quickly. In the end I was happy with what I'd seen.

Bruce Willis is a treat to watch, lets just say, he acts his age in it. Saying that, he's always going to be an action hero, which he subconsciously displays in the film. Tracy Morgan (sometimes over the top) is comical, especially his facial expressions. The chemistry between Willis and Morgan works. For me the show-stealer was Seann William Scott with a hilarious performance. He had me in stitches. The funniest scenes are the ones which Willis, Morgan and Scott all partake together in. All the performances are chilled out. The actors don't try that hard but clearly enjoy themselves.

The director of the movie, Kevin Smith has received a lot of flak from the Critics, which he hasn't taken well. I don't know what the fuss is, he set out to make a fun-filled light-entertainer, and thats exactly what he's done. He's made something out of nothing and I liked it.

Another factor that gets you going when watching the movie is the background music. It was very 80's and tuneful, I was humming away. It bought back memories of the cracking music from the cop comedy classics, 'Beverly Hills Cop I & II' starring Eddie Murphy and 'Kuffs' starring Christian Slater. The music for these movies was composed by Harold Faltermeyer and I wasn't surprised to discover that he was responsible for the tunes in 'Cop Out'. Overall, nice 80's music.

The screen resolution for the Blu-ray disc is 1080p (1920 x 1080 progressive scan) and the sound format is HD MA 5.1 Dolby Digital. The picture quality is impressive and detailed, making the presentation stylish. The sound quality of the dialogues, action and Faltermeyers lively music are all mixed smoothly.

The movie is mindless fun that is chilling at the same time.

'Cop Out' is clichéd yet surprisingly enjoyable.

Bruce Willis has become one of those actors you watch because you like him, he doesn't really play character roles he just plays himself and he's very watchable. In this movie he reprises his role of the world weary New York detective who gets suspended and needs to sell a valuable baseball card to pay for his daughter's wedding, the card gets jacked in a robbery at the store where he's selling it and the thief sells it on to a Mexican drug dealer who is mad about baseball. The drug dealer coincidentally is the brother of the man who caused him to get suspended in the first place. Bruce sets off in pursuit encountering the usual adventures and shoot ups with one obligatory car chase. So far, so good, not a bad story line and you know Brucie will produce the goods. However in this film he is assisted/hindered by his partner played by American comedian Tracey Morgan who just isn't funny, he's is so over the top in fact that it is cringe-worthy. Mos Def was a far superior pairing for Bruce in '16 blocks' and was funny without being comedic, Morgan is just plain stupid. The storyline is good enough for this to have been a genuinely good movie in the vein of 'Lethal Weapon' with the racial roles being reversed as Bruce is as good a straight man as Danny Glover was. The rival detective team played by Kevin Pollack and Adam Brody are funnier and have more believable chemistry as partners. The film also features a pair of lesser known but lovely ladies in Rashida Jones as Morgan's wife who he suspects of cheating on him and Ana de la Requera; a Mexican beauty, who plays a kidnapped Mexican beauty. The transfer to blu-ray is excellent and the soundtrack hardly produces any directional effects at all but is capable. One to rent for a quiet afternoon.