New on DVD: Cop Out

Life is like baseball. Sometimes you hit. Sometimes you miss. And sometimes you tear your ACL coming 'round second.

New York City police officer Jimmy Monroe may not have torn anything, but he's feeling the bumps and bruises of life more than a 40-year-old catcher. He and his partner, Paul, have been suspended after botching a drug bust. His daughter's getting married, and he's happy about that, but he's sure it'll cost more than the average government bailout.

Is he going to have to sell his prized, mint condition Andy Pafko baseball card to finance the festivities? Probably. That won't fix his suspension issues or his partner's goofy ineptitude, but at least he'll be able to give his daughter the wedding she always dreamed of. Even if that wedding features dancing bears and The Beatles playing backup.

So Jimmy, with Pafko and Paul in tow, tramps off to the local hobby store to trade for a little coin. But before he can even get the thing appraised, Pafko is whisked away by a pair of thugs lacking mental wattage but loaded with physical voltage--in the form of fully charged tasers. Jimmy's shocked--literally--to see his massive payday skedaddle out the door and head for home. And Paul, good old Paul, isn't even guarding the plate. 

Ouch. Did I just hear something pop?

Cop Out is an extended homage (or, as Paul says, "hommage") to the buddy-cop flicks of the 1980s, complete with the synth-heavy soundtrack and a myriad of period movie quotes. It's amazing, really, that director Kevin Smith had enough self-restraint to hold the line on mullets. But while the film does have a couple of funny moments, it's equally hard to believe that he, or anyone associated with this piece of work, could be particularly proud of it.

While still solidly R-rated (100 or so f-words will do that), it's not as foul as some of Smith's other work--most recently Zack and Miri Make a Porno. But that doesn't mean it's not bad. 

Indeed, the best part about Cop Out is its title--reflecting, as it does, Smith's apparent attitude toward it. Because this whole exercise feels like a cop-out--not a real movie at all, but two hours of Smith fulfilling a studio contract, actors collecting paychecks and a studio duping moviegoers into helping a handful of rich folks get that much richer.