Movie Review: Cop Out

It's a slim pickings week for movies.

Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan team up in what is supposed to be a copy buddy comedy, but ends up feeling like a raunchy Saturday Night Live skit that has overstayed its welcome.

"Cop Out" starts with Paul (Morgan) buying his partner Jimmy (Willis) a card to celebrate their ninth year together, crossing out "Sweetheart" and writing "Jimmy" on the inside. He then proceeds to interrogate a suspect, using every movie line he can remember, including ones from "Beloved."

It's a funny scene. But once you've seen it, you've seen the whole movie.

Oh sure, there's  a story line about Jimmy needing to recover a stolen baseball card so he can pay for his daughter's wedding. And something about Paul worrying that his wife is cheating on him. Add a maniacal drug lord, a Spanish-speaking hottie, and a slacker petty thief to the mix.

They're all there so that Tracy Morgan can move from one loud riff to the next. It's never quite believable that Morgan is a cop and husband, only that he's a stand-up comic pretending to be a cop and husband. Bruce Willis, who still looks good by the way, is relegated to the role of straight man.

As can be expected from a Kevin Smith movie, many of the laughs come from mindless vulgarity and profane immaturity. Morgan riffs on sex and on bowel movements. Sean William Scott, as the slacker thief, harasses the cops by mimicking their words like a five year old.  A pint-sized child car thief unleashes a stream of profanities that would make a sailor blush.

Oh, look, it's funny because a kid is swearing.

Watching this film is like being surrounded by men whose sense of humor stalled at the twelve year old stage, but who learned a lot of profanity since then. You keep waiting for someone to say "boobies" repeatedly and snicker.

Wait, that's not fair.

To twelve year olds.

I know a lot of twelve year olds who are funnier. And more mature.

There's a market for movies like this. I suspect most of the market lives in its mother's basement, works as a cell phone salesman, and is waiting for its band to take off.

The rest of us are looking for something a little more substantive and redeeming. I guess we'll have to wait for next week.