Cop Out review

Cop Out (15, 107 mins)
Director: Kevin Smith
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Straight out cop-buddy flicks seem to have gone out of fashion, so it’s a surprise to see a real 80s throwback like Cop Out. Then again it’s so clichéd it might actually be a parody, as Bruce Willis and 30 Rock’s Tracy Morgan play a pair of cops taking on a big drugs case who don’t do things by the book, beat suspects, argue with their captain and end up suspended. This is the first time Kevin Smith has directed a film he hasn’t also written and it’s, so he can only be blamed for the generic action if not the feeble dialogue. Smith doesn’t even appear to be trying half the time, allowing a screeching tone from the off, generated mostly by the idiotic Morgan behaving like a child. Willis and Morgan are a hard pair to dislike, but it’s all just so laboured, with subplots about Willis’ daughter’s wedding and Morgan thinking his wife is having an affair proving to be desperate distractions. Constant references to other, better action movies don’t help matters and there’s only the rarest of inspired moments to relieve the tedium.