Cop Out (2010) User Reviews

Disjointed and generic, but it does have its moments

[dfranzen70 · 6/10 · 9 January 2011]

So help me, I found Cop Out to be not completely bad. Yes, that's a backhanded compliment, but I assure you that it's completely deserved. Cop Out, from its inane title to its derivative plot, has no business being anything but a hokey hoedown of banal buddy cop dopey behavior. And yet's it's not as gut-wrenchingly awful as all that.

Cop Out stars Bruce Willis and Tracey Morgan as veteran police partners on the trail of a gangbanger (Guillermo Diaz) who loves baseball memorabilia and who just happened to steal Willis' super-valuable baseball card, the one he was going to have to sell to finance his daughter's wedding; better to do that than have his wife's new, rich husband pay for it all.

But that cop-movie aspect is almost irrelevant. What matters, and the only thing that really puts this one in the same general universe as the likes of, say, Lethal Weapon (in terms of approach, not overall quality), is the thrust-and-parry repartee between straight-arrow Willis (a 180 from his John McClane character/caricature) and loose-cannon, uber-hip Morgan. They're funny together, and they're given funny things to say in funny situations. That helps a lot.

What's puzzling about this movie is that Kevin Smith directed it, the first of his that he didn't also write. That's puzzling because the dialog isn't really this movie's strong point. If I hadn't seen Smith's name attached to this in writing, I'd never have guessed he had had a hand in it.

But ultimately, it doesn't matter much, as it's just plain not terrible. You can tell I'm trying not to go overboard in my hyperbole, right? I want to present you with a level-headed, even-handed look at whether this is worth your time. And it is, with lowered expectations. It's amusing, although not for the whole family to watch.

Cheaply done buddy film

[Samiam3 · 5/10 · 9 January 2011]

Cop Out has a few laughs, but otherwise it's a surprisingly bland experience. It suffers from a generic storyline, questionable performances and the simple fact that almost none of the intended sources of humour achieve the desired effect.

Bruce Willis (an old timer) and Tracy Morgan (a new timer) are an odd couple indeed, but they had potential. The problem is that their levels of commitment to the film are polarized. Willis seems lazy and uninterested never putting much effort into it. Morgan on the other hand, tries way too hard. His larger than life style of crudeness is more clumsy than funny, and he upstages pretty much everyone else in the cast.

After about ten minutes, we have a pretty good idea of how this film is gonna play out, but we go with it in the hope that the trip is worth while. Unfortunately there are more silly contrivances and poorly written lines than there are laughs. The only time when Cop Out is funny (and remotely clever) is over a Good Cop Bad Cop routine that Willis and Morgan have. There are enough action movie jokes to make it clear to the audience that at least Kevin Smith has the self-awareness necessary for satire. But from what I saw, Cop Out isn't really a satire at all. It no better or worse than any other failed cop/comedy. I'm not sure if it's laziness or lack of thinking behind it, but Cop Out hasn't got the goods

mildly amusing but not very good

[SloberDon · 17 March 2010]

I guess you could call a few scenes mildly amusing but this movie never delivered any laugh out loud moments. It certainly never rings true as an action film. I don't know if they were mocking or paying homage to movies like Lethal Weapon and that's precisely the problem. Bruce Willis was solid but Tracy Morgan was severely out of place. While I find Morgan funny, his act wears thin fast. Also, Kevin Smith experimenting with the hand-held shaky camera craze has to be considered a colossal failure. Maybe it wasn't even intentional but I had to look away from the screen on some simple shots because of the motion. What was he thinking? Doesn't anyone screen the final cut and let him know what was wrong?

Is this a joke?

[mattbaxter72 · 1/10 · 1 February 2011]

This is supposed to be a comedy, allegedly. I only know that because it's advertised as a comedy, though - you certainly wouldn't know because of any funny moments in the film. It's a buddy cop movie, where Bruce Willis looks as though he's overdosed on Valium and Tracy Morgan makes up for that by doing what I can only describe as a minstrel show routine.

I don't want to get on my high horse about what's supposed to be a light-hearted action cop movie, but then again I didn't want to get angry after a light-hearted action cop movie, either. Angry about Morgan's performance, a gibbering, cavorting, screeching act that wouldn't have been out of place in the days of Stepin Fetchit. Angry about the fact that no one involved seemed to give a toss - in fact they might as well have spent the whole movie just standing there, holding up two middle fingers at the audience.

But I'm angry most of all at Kevin Smith, the director of this piece of utter garbage. He used to be talented. He used to make great movies like Clerks, Dogma, even Mallrats. Yeah, that's right, I'm the guy who liked Mallrats. These days he churns out lazy rubbish and then goes on Twitter and whines at anyone who dares to criticise it. He's thrown his talent away, and he's so wrapped up in the bubble of his own self-importance that he doesn't seem to realise it. By making a film like this, and clearly not caring at all about how it turned out, he's shown his complete contempt for movie-goers, fans and the smoking wreckage of his own career. Well done, Kevin. Well done.

Laugh Out Loud!!

[naman-avastol · 7/10 · 23 February 2010]

What can you expect in a Bruce Willis movie?? Action? Suspense? Thriller? Hadn't Cop Out been made you could never have said a comedy! At least I couldn't believe Bruce Willis in laugh out loud comedy! Hats off to Director Kevin Smith for handling the veteran Bruce Willis superbly! His first directorial venture in which the script has not been penned by himself!

The film also stars Tracey Morgan who with his great comic timing and hilarious sense of humor blew me away!! LOL His best part is while interrogating suspects he recites dialogues from great movies in humorous ways!Bruce Willis again shows that age doesn't affect him in selecting great roles and performing them in a superb manner!

Take my advice: you must try this movie as it will keep you tickling all the time! A must watch!

Enjoyable maverick cop buddies fare

[perkypops · 6/10 · 25 May 2011]

There are so many films within this genre, plus a whole host on TV, that the risk of making it is that we have all seen it before. There is inevitably a touch of that in this film, but it does have some solid acting by all the main characters to give it some impetus at crucial times.

Cop Bruce Willis must raise face saving money for his daughter's wedding and he has worked out a legal way of doing so. From there we have a carefully interwoven sequence of events that lead us through the story to an ending not quite what you may expect.

It is enjoyable, funny in places, doesn't take itself too seriously, and whisks you through a couple of hours. Not everyone's cup of tea given the competition but still an okay film. Six out of ten.

Cop suckers

[Prismark10 · 3/10 · 25 November 2015]

Kevin Smith directs but does not write this tribute to 1980s buddy cop films.

Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan are the mismatched pair. Jimmy (Bruce Willis) and Paul (Tracy Morgan) on suspension from a drug bust gone wrong. Jimmy decides to sell an antique baseball card to help pay for his daughter's wedding but when making the transaction he gets robbed and the card is sold to a notorious criminal.

The pair then go about retrieving the card, even by finding one of the crooks who robbed him (Sean William Scott) to help them out.

At the same time they come across a drug lord who has kidnapped someone and Paul thinks his wife is having an affair.

With a music score by Harold Faltermeyer this film certainly wants you to think of Beverly Hills Cop, Running Scared, Turner & Hooch, Tango & Cash as well as other 80s mismatched buddy comedies.

The trouble is the script here is rubbish, many of the side characters are annoying and there is no chemistry between Morgan and Willis. In fact Willis is just sleepwalking it here. I do not think he even tries to act any more.

The story is derivative and none of the so called funny antics add much. Sure Smith can bring out a few mild laughs here and there but this is poor from him.

I was surprised

[agremlin82 · 7/10 · 6 March 2010]

I'm not a Tracy Morgan fan, but I've always liked Willis. My friend talked me into seeing the movie, which after seeing the previews I didn't think it was worth the effort. I was very very wrong. Although not the kind of movie that I'd bust a gut over, I was very entertained. For those few who wrote seriously negative review, especially the reviewer who commented on the dialog of Tracy Morgans bathroom habits, the scene was about 20 seconds, not 3 minutes. Guys its a comedy. If you want factual police drama, you can watch Cops for free. Of course its unrealistic, but it is a very funny movie.

Tracy Morgan's character was over the top as I would have expected, but this time he really didn't annoy me. I began to warm up to the character. Bruce Willis was generally the straight man for a lot of Morgans antics, but the bottom line is that they worked well together. The theater was sparsely populated, maybe less than 30 people, but no one got up to leave, and I believe liked the movie as well. Yes there were some plot holes, but the story line, a little on the weak side was easily overlooked by the main characters acting off of each other and a great shoot-em-up at the end. The way the final bad guy bites the dust was very unexpected, original and funny.

I don't know if it will warm me up as a Tracy Morgan fan, but he did good on this one. Nice way to spend the time.

Everything you expect it to be, for better or worse

[valis666 · 4/10 · 4 March 2010]

Saw this film as the first part of a double feature with the far more anticipated Shutter Island following, so my attention was only half there. That's about all the attention I needed, though, as it's a typical buddy cop movie through and through. Not that I expected anything different, mind you.

The whole reason I and likely 90% of the audience were there was for Tracy Morgan. And it was a "classic" Tracy Morgan performance, by which I mean he's his usual off-kilter self, some of his scenes work well and some of them fall flat on their face in awkward silence.

A 50% success rate is more than I can say for Bruce Willis, though, who looked so disinterested I was half expecting him to break character at any moment and announce he had to leave the set because he had a plane to catch for another movie he was filming.

The supporting cast of the underrated Sean William Scott and Jason Lee were their usually amusing selves, while the Latino gang villains, led by Guillermo Díaz of The Shield and Weeds fame, are absurdly over the top and clichéd, almost to the point of offensiveness.

It's a movie you'll probably see on cable while nursing a hangover one morning, or something you watch on a plane because it's light and there aren't many better choices. Hard to recommend it past that.

Much Better Than Expected

[tjdurant · 8/10 · 27 February 2010]

I saw this with my 15-year-old son, and we both laughed a lot, as did the nearly-full mid- afternoon theater audience. I have rarely seen such a stark disconnect between some scathing reviews and actual audience reaction.

Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan have excellent chemistry. Morgan is consistently funny, and Willis goofs nicely on his own image. Sean William Scott is a hoot! You have to see his one- of-a-kind performance to believe it, and don't miss the credits!

Yes, it's no masterpiece, plot, action, or comedy-wise. The primacy of Beverly Hills Cop and Die Hard in the action-comedy pantheon is undisturbed. No new creative ground is broken here. Kevin Pollack, unfortunately, is given little to do. Adam Brody was 10 times better in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, in a far smaller role. But on the whole, the movie does what one asks of an action-comedy: it makes you laugh many times, and it does not bore you.

Ana de la Reguera is also an unexpected treat. Bonita y deliciosa.

Me and my son give it two thumbs up!

A Solid Take on a Buddy Cop Movie

[danielkitchener1 · 7/10 · 1 March 2010]

This movie isn't the best buddy cop movie ever made, the best action- comedy ever made, or the best Kevin Smith-directed movie ever made. What it is, though, is a solid movie that is well worth the price of admission. It won't change your life, but it won't let you down either.

First off, the casting was absolutely spectacular. There wasn't an actor in the movie that wasn't perfect for the role that they were in. Bruce Willis as a self-aware take on his usual cop character, Tracy Morgan as his slightly-wacky sidekick, Seann William Scott as a wacky burglar, Kevin Pollack and Adam Brody as slightly-incompetent and slightly- obnoxious cops, Michelle Trachtenberg as Bruce Willis' bride-to-be daughter, Guillermo Diaz as baseball-loving Mexican gangster Poh Boy - all were great in their roles. Jason Lee was spectacular in his small role, too.

The humor and dialog, while a little flat in places, was for the most part funny and lively. The plot had more twists and turns than you'd expect from a buddy cop action-comedy, and was quite surprisingly good. Kevin Smith, in his first time as a director of someone else's material, did a damn good job of directing not only the dialog that is usually his specialty, but also the action parts that usually aren't present in his films.

Don't expect Kubrick or Hitchcock, but definitely see this if you want an entertaining, funny way to spend a couple of hours without having to think too much.

Even if you don't like Kevin Smith (I'm a fan, so I don't have this problem), remember that Martin Brest, the director Beverly Hills Cop, is also the writer/director/producer of Gigli. A director's talents can definitely make a police action/comedy (as they partly did in this case), but probably will not break it.

Nothing spectacular...

[paul_haakonsen · 5/10 · 14 July 2010]

This movie was alright, but it failed to become something spectacular and memorable.

First of all, I am going to comment on the cast and the acting. As for Bruce Willis, well his acting is great, as usual, and he was good for this role. Now, for me, what really carried this movie was the character that Seann William Scott played, it was hilarious, even though it was just a supporting role. He was so cool in this role and I loved every moment of it. Now, on to Tracy Morgan, well I have to say that I found him amazingly annoying in this role, and I just wanted to reach in there and .... oh well, never the less, I think a guy like Chris Rock or Chris Tucker might have been better for this particular role.

Moving on to the story. Well, the plot and story was good, and constantly moving, so you weren't really bored at any point in the movie. And there were lots of hilarious scenes and moments as well. And there were also just enough twists and turns in the story to make it interesting.

The music in this movie sort of made me feel like I was watching a re-make of the old Eddie Murphy movies "Beverly Hills Cop". At times it was like the music was a remix or a homage to the music from those movies. That was kind of a bit too much for me.

I hadn't actually heard anything about this movie, prior to picking it up for the first time. But of course, by that way I had no expectations to the movie, which I think worked well in favor of the movie. The movie does provide good entertainment, but there isn't much in it that you haven't already seen in other movies. And for me, personally, this is not the type of movie that I would watch a second time around.

Crapped Out

[Chrysanthepop · 12 July 2011]

'Cop Out' is perhaps Kevin Smith's most 'un-Kevin Smith' film. It lacks the brand of humour his previous works had. Even though he has made his share of bad films next to a few great ones, the jokes usually work. In 'Cop Out' most of them fall flat. The story (if there is one) has no direction at all. The characters are annoying. Supporting characters appear and disappear randomly. In Smith's defence, he wasn't part of the writing department (though he was involved in the editing) and the script is just one big mess. I still wonder why he decided to make this? Even the actors seem to lack interest. Tracy Morgan is completely miscast and he has no chemistry with any of his costars. Actually none of the actors have chemistry. Bruce Willis too is unimpressive. Perhaps he's finally tired of playing the same kind of role over and over again. The title is somewhat right for the movie although I don't think it ever had potential.

Failure

[kxok630 · 1/10 · 16 March 2010]

Toxic waste. As funny as hearing bad news from your doctor.

It's a retro visit to those old buddy cop films, but who is this for? Frat guys passed out on the floor from booze? Stoned nematodes? Middle schooler kids sneaking in through the exit? This is dumbed down so far, that even middle schoolers would roll their eyes.

Bruce Willis just sits around looking bored. He's got some peculiar grin on his face, like some jerk who's pulling a practical joke on a blind person. Tracy Morgan does an annoyingly cheap rip off of Murphy/Pryor/Lawrence, (take your pick). Whining, moaning, stereotyped gibberish, manic babbling delivery. He points at himself and says "look how funny." They're carting around some idiot prisoner who mumbles stupidly with childish taunts, even doing the "repeat what you said" bit. Remember that from kindergarten? It wasn't funny then, either; but at least nobody charged you ten bucks to listen to it for two hours.

Painful. Almost as bad as being seated next to Kevin Smith on a crowded airplane for a 14-hour flight. This one's a wash-out.

An Old Formula That Works

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 10 October 2010]

After a clumsy operation trying to capture a drug dealer, the N.Y.P.D Detectives Jimmy Monroe (Bruce Willis) and Paul Hodges (Tracy Morgan) are suspended for one month by their Captain Romans (Sean Cullen). Jimmy decides to sell his rare baseball card to pay the expensive wedding of his daughter while his jealous partner believes that his wife is cheating him with their next-door neighbor. When Jimmy is selling his card to a memorabilia store, the place is stolen by two smalltime thieves and the detective loses his card. They track down the thieves and discover that he exchanged the card per drugs with the powerful drug lord Poh Boy (Guilermo Diaz). Jimmy and Paul seek out the gangster that proposes to trade the card per his car that had been carjacked. The detectives find the car but when they open the truck, they have a huge surprise.

"Cop Out" is a film that uses the old formula of combination of action and comedy that usually works. Kevin Smith is no longer that bold independent director from "Clerks" or "Chasing Amy" and follows the easy way of Hollywood making a conventional film, supported by the chemistry between Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. The story is entertaining and predictable. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Tiras em Apuros" ("Cops in Trouble")

The Title of the Movie Says It All

[brando647 · 5/10 · 11 August 2010]

Kevin Smith is one of my favorite modern filmmakers, but everyone makes mistakes and Smith's latest is COP OUT. I really wanted to enjoy this movie. Unfortunately, the movie was so mediocre that I found my attention wandering through most of it. The film, Smith's attempt at recreating the fun of 80's buddy cop films, stars Bruce Willis and Tracey Morgan as two disgraced cops who are suspended after a botched stake-out. The timing couldn't be worse, as Jimmy (Willis) is trying to pay for his daughter's wedding. He decides to sell off a rare baseball card to raise the funds, but a robbery relieves him of the card before he can. Jimmy and his long-time partner Paul (Morgan) set out to track down the baseball card and find themselves in the middle of a case to bring down a local drug lord who hopes to expand his business.

See, it even sounds like an 80s buddy cop movie!! The problem here is that the film isn't funny enough to be a full comedy, and the action isn't strong enough to be a decent action film. So it just sits in the middle, failing to appease people who watched it for either reason. Smith has created some of my favorite comedies (DOGMA was awesome, and JAY & SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK is one of my guilty pleasures), but those were films he'd written and directed. Here, the writing duties had been given to Robb and Mark Cullen. I've never seen anything written by the Cullens and, thanks to COP OUT, I'm not in any real rush to do so. Smith's trademark borderline-juvenile comedy that usually has me laughing so hard I can't breathe is pretty much gone (though he does manage to toss in his obligatory STAR WARS reference) and replaced by cringe-worthy low(er) brow toilet humor.

The problem isn't just with the writing and weak action sequences, it's with the casting. I love Willis but he doesn't really seem to get much to work with, and for most of the movie he comes off as bored. Morgan was all right back in the day on SNL and he's pretty good on 30 ROCK, but he grinds on my nerves here. He has a few funny moments, but you need more than a few when you're helping carry an entire feature. The worst bit of casting came in the form of Guillermo Diaz as Poh Boy, the drug lord villain. Maybe it's because I can only remember him as Scarface from HALF-BAKED but I couldn't take any of his bad guy schtick seriously. Sean William Scott has the only real funny role in the movie as the S**t Bandit (so named because the cops spy him using the bathroom in the middle of a burglary). Scott earns the most laughs with his eccentric, childish games eating away at Paul's nerves.

I don't consider COP OUT a bad movie, because it's not so terribly done that I can't watch it. It has a couple fun moments but they're not enough to save the movie. The film never rises above mediocre and I hope this serves as a lesson to Smith that he should continue to write his own movies. I'm sure if he had put this together himself, it would've been light years better and we'd be applauding Smith for trying a new genre instead of wishing he hadn't.

A funny homage to the action-humored films of the 1980's

[Rodrigo_Amaro · 10/10 · 10 April 2011]

When did we become so uptight about comedies and about things that makes us laugh? When did we become so demanding about jokes and humor? It's a mystery to me that viewers didn't get a clue about what was so funny in "Cop Out", an homage to action-humored flicks of the 1980's but brought into a new decade. This film is light, well intentioned, hilariously funny and with good performances by the unusual team made by Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan.

Willis and Morgan play two suspended detectives with some personal goals to achieve. Willis wants to pay for his daughter's wedding and he needs money for it, and he would get the money by selling a rare baseball card but it was stolen from him and he needs to get back; Morgan's character doesn't trust his wife so much believing that she has an affair with the neighbor, so he keeps investigating possible affairs. But both of these cops are on the run trying to find Willis card that end up on the hands of some bad guys.

The plot is silly but that's what is funny about "Cop Out". Not only the team made by Willis & Morgan were cool but the team made by Kevin Pollak and Adam Brody as the serious detectives were responsible for the most interesting and funny moments of the film; Seann William Scott goes very well with his usual comedy style, here playing a thief. The only problem with this film is the villain played by Guillermo Diaz, because this guy is so dangerous that there's no sense of comedy about him, it's not funny, and when director Kevin Smith tries to make of him a funny guy it is just too forced, weird.

The 1980's references and the film references (mentioned by the film buff detective played by Morgan) are the best. Harold Faltermeyer's musical score in a moment taken from "Beverly Hills Cop" was a nice and funny reference (you watch the scene and you instantly remember where did they took from). And the references of "Die Hard", "Beetlejuice", "In the Heat of the Night" and many other classics, used in a comic and interesting way but it only works if you know the mentioned titles.

An easy entertainment, simple and very funny. 10/10

Hey Kevin Smith: Good job directing this movie.

[thesubstream · 6/10 · 28 February 2010]

I didn't expect much going in to watch Kevin Smith's Cop Out, which was maybe the key to why I enjoyed it as much as I did. Expect nothing, and any small glimmer or pinprick of light will end up being a pleasant surprise. Smith's been on a hell of a rough streak: he's affable, an entertaining, accessible twitterer and speaker and someone who makes some not very good movies. With Cop Out, though, he made something that's inoffensive and just somehow manages to hang together, which might have something to do with the fact that Smith is, for the first time, directing someone else's script. He's seemingly outside his comfort zone, for once taking on a big-ish budgeted broad Hollywood comedy. That can't be without it's challenges, especially considering Smith's to-date history of personal, dialogue-driven output, but this is a Warner Brothers movie with gun play and car-chases. Luckily, television writers the Cullen Bros. penned a script that Smith was able to work with; light on action and heavy on the potty-mouthed (but occasionally smart) dialogue. Smith moves the story along scene by scene and doesn't let things bog. He made this movie. It wasn't too bad,and I'm weirdly sincerely proud of him for it. He's improving. He's honing his craft. He's working on his directing chops, maybe recognizing that scatological slices of personal angst and white-dude heartache can only take a director so far.

Don't get me wrong; Cop Out's not perfect. It isn't a great movie. Occasionally, sloppy editing sadly exposes a few weak links here and there and the camera-work is sub-par, but as far as straight-up Hollywood buddy cop movies go, it works well enough. Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan play NYPD detectives in the process of royally screwing up a drug case. As the film opens, they hand in their badges and guns, which kicks off a 30-day suspension without pay. Trouble: Willis' daughter is getting married and he needs money to pay for the wedding. He tries to sell his dad's old baseball card which gets stolen in a robbery being committed by Sean William Scott. The cops track Scott down but he already gave the card to the drug dealers from their aforementioned case, who are looking for a mysterious Mercedes Benz. See? There's enough interesting, goofy stuff going on to at least keep the film moving, which is great. At times, the twisty-turny plot even feels vaguely (vaguely) reminiscent of Coen Bros. style comedy (think Lebowski's series of unfortunate events) even though it never quite gets there. The dialogue, although sometimes uneven and eerily Smith-esquire (lots of tired, unfunny dick jokes), does have its share of laughs. Unfortunately, a handful of neat story moments and funny one-liners can't overcome the film's rougher patches - most distracting of which is Morgan's jealous husband subplot, which is a) tedious and unfunny and b) a bad fit for Morgan's character.

In some cases Cop Out's weaknesses are smoothed over by decent performances. Willis is perfect and Morgan is sporadically funny, although your tolerance for his schtick will be tested. He does dial back his hyper-wacky TV persona just enough to let a goofy-but-responsible police officer character rise to the surface, but he also sticks his tongue out in one scene while saying the words 'orally fixated' which made me throw up a bit in my mouth. So there's that. Sean William Scott is absolutely hilarious, and by far the best part of the film. I always kind of hated this guy but he keeps surprising me, and his character in this is just offbeat and weird enough to actually refresh this whole affair. He isn't integral to the plot but without his performance the film would've sucked large, to be perfectly blunt. Well played, Stiffler, well played. And, of course, what would a buddy cop film be without a rival partnership within the force? Kevin Pollack and Adam Brody are perfect as the department's more-successful, cowboy-boot wearing drug-squad superstars, and even though it would have been great to see more of them, what little they did add gave the story a much needed... something.

I liked it, warts and all. It's pleasing to see Kevin Smith trying something different, something newish and freshish, at least to him. It's obvious that after seeing Cop Out he's still got a long way to go as a filmmaker, but for the first time since Clerks he seems to have shown a glimpse of what he's capable of when he's just focused on making a plain old movie. Not very deep, not very personal, but entertaining and more or less by the books, which I never thought possible. What a surprise! 6/10

Comedies do not get much worse.

[mpg782 · 1/10 · 4 March 2010]

You ever watch a movie that contains characters who don't in any way, shape, or form resemble real people? Well, this is one of those movies. It's blatantly obvious that the screenwriters drew no inspiration from real life, and instead cut and pasted elements of other films. You know, like any lazy screenwriter.

I despised this film from the get-go. It opens with an interrogation scene, where Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan play (surprise, surprise!) Good Cop, Bad Cop. Morgan rushes into the interrogation room, spouting a multitude of famous one-liners to the suspect. Now, why in God's name, would a detective who served nine years on the force do something like that? There's no method to his madness. After he runs out of quotes from action movies, he starts quoting movies like "Jaws." How does that make any sense? I know what you're thinking. "It's a comedy!" Still, every joke has to contain an element of truth. Just watch Eddie Murphy's portrayal of Axel Foley in the "Beverly Hills Cop" movies. Though his character is over-the-top and exaggerated, he's still believable as a cop. Because you're able to buy into the reality, you're able to laugh.

Kevin Smith's films all have their imperfections. However, one word you can never use to describe his films is "unoriginal." "Cop Out" is an exception to that rule. I don't think I can name a single moment that wasn't ripped off from other films, mainly buddy cop flicks. It's bad enough that it contains the excruciatingly stale premise of a stuck-up white cop and his loudmouthed black partner teaming up to crack a case. No, we also have the smug rival detectives (played by Kevin Pollak and Adam Brody), who constantly bust their chops. The villains are stereotypical Latin gang members. There's even a scene in which the main villain guns one of his henchmen down in a church, praying to God before he commits the evil deed. Seann William Scott plays an obnoxious suspect, who tags along with the two detectives and ultimately assists them in nabbing the villains. Willis plays a divorced dad, and his daughter's new stepfather (Jason Lee) is a pretentious tool. Stop me when you spot anything, and I mean ANYTHING, original.

Morgan is obviously a talented comedian, as we've gathered from his work on "Saturday Night Live." However, like many in-your-face stand-up comedians, he needs to be kept on a leash. There were way too many moments, where Smith allowed Morgan too much freedom. There's one scene, where he jabbers on for about three minutes about his resistance to take a dump anywhere outside of his home. Wow. Hilarious.

Willis is convincing in his role, because...well...he plays a cop in every other movie! Unfortunately, he's not given much to do, as Morgan constantly upstages him with his unfunny shtick. If the screenwriters had any brain cells, they'd realize that it's just as important to give the straight man some funny moments. Just watch "48 Hours"! Nick Nolte had almost as many amusing moments as Eddie Murphy. On account of that, Willis appears bored throughout the film. Who knows? Maybe he signed on for the gig simply to return the favor to Kevin Smith, who did a cameo in "Live Free or Die Hard." I can't stress how unbelievably awful this movie is. This movie proves that Smith should definitely stick to directing his own scripts. As much as I like the guy, directing is not his strong suit. You watch a Martin Scorcese flick that wasn't written by him, and you can still tell it's a Scorcese flick. Without Smith's sharp and witty dialog, the film may as well have been made by some hack TV director.

Awful.

[jaketpajor · 1/10 · 16 June 2011]

Smith has yet again gone out of his way to make this movie truly awful. Even for the 80's cop movie "homage" this is trying to be, it really is disappointing. The dialogue is slow, unfunny, and just flat out dumb most of the time. Smith seems to have put little to no effort into doing anything original with the buddy cop movie and it really shows.

If i could un-watch this movie I certainly would. This was a huge disappointment and waste of time! Tracy Morgan plays the "dumb" guy terribly. Well, he actually plays it too well and it becomes very annoying very quickly.

Bruce Willis is of course playing the same role he has played in almost all of his movies. The straight stern tough guy. It is nothing new, nothing original, and certainly nothing fun to watch.

Not THAT bad, some people expect too much

[metallipowerman5000 · 7/10 · 17 April 2010]

Like I said, i guess some people were expecting WAY too much here. If anyone was expecting to compare this to clerks or any other Kevin Smith film, you probably need to A.) get a life and B.)not even waste your time babbling

This WAS NOT written by Kevin Smith......period. He directed it, which means he simply took the job as Director. And don't tell me for a second that you wouldn't take the job, because no one will believe you, especially considering if they mentioned they were going to hire Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. After all, it's not like people are knocking at Kevin Smiths door begging him to direct movies every day. So he's a writer and director, he will go where the work is! Smith simply got left with a cruddy script, and forced to deal with it and direct it!

Now okay, with all the purely stupid "Kevin smith flaming" aside.

This movie was pretty funny. It definitely had a lot of cliché or obvious moments in the movie. But if you can put those aside, it's not THAT bad.

Tracy Morgan was being just that...... Tracy Morgan! Here's another area I have a problem with, people bashing Morgan for a poor performance...... He was FUNNY in this movie! He didn't exactly shine, but he was his normal edgy, goofy self. Seriously what were people expecting? A golden award winning performance? Ha..... Give me a break. Tracy definitely held the movie together.

Bruce Willis was pretty funny as well. Again, were people seriously expecting a grammy performance? This is a cop action/ comedy, bruce WAS funny, i love seeing him throw around the F word and cursing in every sentence, and considering Die Hard 4 was censored to hell, this movie shows he can still talk like he did in the original 3 Die Hards. People also mentioned how he "dragged" through the film. I disagree, his character IS a little slower and angry, but wouldn't you be too if you just lost your job as a police officer? So now that we have some logic here, Bruce wasn't that bad at all. Like I said, he acted pretty solid, threw tons of F bombs around, and I was just glad to see that! It really made him look young again and reminded me of some of his earlier films!

Sean William Scott was also in this film, and trash talked too. Once again I disagree, I thought he was his typical self! He wasn't quite as great as in dukes of hazard or evolution, but he does have some funny lines in this movie! Not to mention, he still looks young and active, so nothings really changed. ( and watch a few minutes into the credits, it's pretty funny)

Overall it's a pretty funny action cop movie, with some typical cliché moments. I thought the bad guys were really lame and fairly new edge typical too. There are a few failed attempts, but other than that, it's a funny movie if taken lightly and as long as your not expecting a ground breaking comedy. It's not going to win any awards, but it's just goofy, funny and kind of quirky.

Title Says It All

[loufalce · 1/10 · 25 February 2010]

Bruce Willis on his downward spiral. Totally predictable, by the numbers cop-buddy movie. When his rare baseball card gets stolen, Willis and Tracey plan to find the miscreants.After all, Willis is going to use the money to pay for his daughter's wedding. Bald headed Bruce sleepwalks through another movie, arguably his worst since "Surrogate"-remember that? Tracey Morgan shows some talent and a good sense of humor, but it is totally squandered in this film. This one is supposed to echo the cop-buddy films of the 80s, movies like "48hrs." and "Beverley Hills Cop".while those movies were fun and inventive for their time, they seem badly dated today. Same with this.It is so utterly predictable that you can watch it without the sound and know what exactly is going to happen next. Its really a shame. I kinda like Willis, but if he continues to do roles like this, he may soon find himself doing commercials for wine coolers again real soon. At least the movie lives up to its title -it cops out in every department, especially laughs.If you can wait 7 weeks, you'll be able to rent it at your local video store.Not really worth your time or your money.A laughless "comedy" that is more pathetic than funny. The joke is on you if you pay money to see it!

way better than you would think

[Palamon1990 · 7/10 · 22 August 2010]

the worst trailer of all time tanked this movie. those TV spots and theatrical trailers had everyone ready to annihilate this movie. myself included, and i'm a big kevin smith fan. but when i walked out of cop out, i realized that i had more than enjoyed the last two hours of my life. willis is always perfect, and tracy morgan makes the perfect yin to his yang. you know, kevin smith is not an action director. this is really his first attempt and i honestly would never have guessed it. the action was exciting, well cut, and always had a good payoff (unlike the ferrell bomb the other guys). now, the comedy could have been trimmed here and there. as funny as they are in the movie, i would've put a bit tighter of a leash on sean william scott and morgan. but it wasn't enough to make me stop laughing i'll put it that way. this is just another band wagon movie that people hate because they're told to hate it. and it's a shame.

In Search Of Andy Pafko

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 3 March 2010]

Cop Out casts Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan as a couple of police partners with some serious issues. Willis's former wife is now married to a wealthy second husband who delights in tormenting Willis about how he can pay for the wedding of Willis's daughter out of petty cash. As for Morgan, he's insanely jealous of his wife and worried about infidelities.

Morgan's going to find out about his wife once and for all because he has installed a surveillance camera in a teddy bear in their bedroom. As for Willis, he's got a mint condition Andy Pafko 1952 Topps baseball card which was number one in the series. Should be worth more than enough to collectors to pay for the wedding.

But when they go to a memorabilia dealer these two pick a time when it's being robbed and Willis gets himself tasered. In looking for the lost Pafko the two of them get involved with a drug dealer and get into an ongoing investigation of same.

Of course it all works out in the end in a sort It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World kind of way. Sometimes the humor is rather forced, for example I'm not sure how Tracy Morgan's regularity got to be a subject for humor.

Seann William Scott has a nice role as the robber who tasers Willis, but who later joins forces with Willis and Morgan, kind of. He also has a beautiful 'resurrection' scene.

I will say someone did their research on Andy Pafko. What they say about Pafko who was a Brooklyn Dodger in 1952 is all quite true according to Wikipedia which also explains why that particular card is so prized. Cop Out will have its supporters among the fans of the lead players, but no one will ever say it's their best work.

funny

[kairingler · 6/10 · 14 July 2013]

I really enjoy Bruce Willis in about everything he does.. this one he wasn't near as rough and tumble as usual , he was really funny in this one. the story goes something like this.. Bruce's character has to pay for a wedding which he can't afford, because him and his partner got suspended because of a bad drug bust, his partner think 's his wife is cheating on him so he set's up a video camera in their bedroom,, so back to bruce, he decides to sell a rare baseball card worth lot's of money to pay for his daughter's wedding and make sure that the step dad doesn't show him up,, plans get foiled when the guy he sold it to his store get's robbed by the same bunch who him and his partner busted.. very funny movie,, good action and buddy cop laughs , not as good as other Bruce Willis movies ,, this one is more for the laughs.. and sorta of a spoof in many ways of earlier buddy cop films.