2010 movies: #42

#42 Cop-Out

There are certainly few auteurs working in modern cinema. Perhaps the most obvious is Wes Anderson, whose penchant for quirky dialogue, flawed characters and carefully symmetrical shots are stand-alone. There's Clint Eastwood, whose films each have the same dark, shadowy aesthetic. And Darren Aronofsky, he of the follow-shot and digital handheld (more on him way later in the countdown).

One who often gets overlooked is Kevin Smith. Who but Smith could turn a degenerate drug dealer and his quiet sidekick from white trash to cartoonish, lovable superheroes? Who else could make interesting cinema about the legalities and implications of contract workers on the death star? Who besides him has the balls to take organized religion and reduce it to devilish hockey-playing minions on rollerblades and foul-mouthed angels descending to earth? True, from his pinnacle-the Clerks/Mallrats/Chasing Amy stretch-his movies have gradually declined in substance. But when you have a Kevin Smith script, you know you'll end up with top notch innuendo, comic-book-geek philosophy, and super sharp yet heartfelt dialogue. Smith really is one of those writers who has a voice.

The problem is, Kevin smith didn't write Cop-Out. Instead, a duo if brothers who had worked on the TV show Las Vegas did. I don't think it was a bad thing for smith to step out of his element a little; besides-who wouldn't want to work with Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis do their best Gibson & Glover?

When it comes to Bruce Willis, I'm pretty much only interested in watching him kick ass and blow sh*t up, and I'm only interested in Tracy Morgan clowning Tracy Jordan-style. The main plot of Cop-Out follows Willis as he tries to get his Honus Wagner baseball card back from a drug-dealing memorabilia-obsessed gangbanger(Guillermo Diaz, steeping away from his Chappelle affiliation to thug out) so that he can help pay for his daughter's wedding, with Morgan as his affable sidekick.
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The movie, however, loses steam by getting too involved in the secondary plots. Willis trades macho jabs with Jason Lee, who plays the rich new husband/stepfather and argues with his wife over his parental involvement. Morgan has his problems too-he's fully convinced his wife (the gorgeous Rashida Jones) is having an affair, so much so that he painstakingly installs surveillance. It's almost like the film can't decide if it's a buddy comedy, a crime caper, or a comment on the pitfalls of love. The identity crisis disrupts enough that by the time some good 'ol shoot-em-up finally occurs, the viewer is kind of out of it.

There are bright spots-Morgan still brings his usual buffoonery to the table when the scene allows, and Sean William Scott is great as a petty criminal the duo is tasked with babysitting. I'll watch anything Kevin Smith does, I just hope the next one is penned by him as well. I wouldn't mind Jay and Silent Bob popping caps in some antagonist's asses!

...And now a 2-3 day hiatus in observance of the upcoming Super Bowl holiday. Back on Monday or Tuesday with more blogging!!