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Cop Out (2010 film)
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Wikipedia article
'Cop Out' is a 2010 American buddy cop action-comedy film directed and edited by Kevin Smith, written by Mark and Robb Cullen (marking the first and only Smith-directed movie he didn't write), and stars Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, Adam Brody, Kevin Pollak, Guillermo Diaz, and Seann William Scott. The plot revolves around two veteran NYPD partners (Willis and Morgan) on the trail of a stolen, rare, mint-condition baseball card who find themselves up against a memorabilia-obsessed gangster.
'Cop Out' was released on February 26, 2010, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is Smith's highest-grossing film, earning $55 million on a $30 million budget, but earned negative reviews from critics.
Plot
James "Jimmy" Monroe and Paul Hodges are NYPD detectives. After failing to capture suspect Juan Diaz and endangering civilians, they are suspended without pay.
Jimmy's daughter Ava is getting married, and the wedding will cost close to $50,000. His ex-wife Pam's arrogant second husband Roy offers to pay for the wedding, but he is determined to come up with the money. While Jimmy is selling a 1952 baseball card to pay for the wedding, the shop is robbed by Dave, who takes the card. Finding out Dave is robbing a house that night, they stake it out to retrieve the card and gun. Jimmy and Paul arrest him, but the card and gun were sold.
Jimmy and Paul go to the drug dealer, Poh Boy, who tells them if they retrieve a stolen car they can have it. They discover a woman named Gabriela in the trunk. She was the mistress of a drug lord kidnapped and murdered by Poh Boy's gang. Jimmy previews the tape from Paul's hidden camera and sees what looks to be Paul's wife Debbie with another man, but he tells Paul there is nothing on it. Paul later sees it and is heartbroken. As she does not want to get Jimmy and Paul hurt, Gabriela flees.
Jimmy bails out Dave so he can retrieve the card, but he falls out of a tree and hits his head hard. Jimmy breaks into the house to retrieve the card but is surrounded by the gang. At the same time, Paul learns that Debbie tricked him by faking an affair for not trusting her. After killing most of the gang, Jimmy and Paul find Poh Boy holding Gabriela at gunpoint. They shoot him dead, but Paul's bullet goes through Jimmy's baseball card, in Poh Boy's shirt pocket. Pleased with the duo's investigation and assisting two colleagues who were caught in the shootout, the precinct chief restores Jimmy and Paul to active duty, giving them commendations.
Crestfallen at the destruction of his prize card, Jimmy lets Roy pay for the wedding. Pam asks Jimmy and Roy to give away Ava together. Jimmy says nothing about it. Paul discreetly points his pistol at Roy and orders him to sit down at the moment the priest calls out for who is giving away Ava.
In a post-credits scene, a female morgue worker rolls a gurney holding a body bag into the room as the phone rings. Dave emerges from the body bag, very much alive, and answers the phone.
Cast
* Bruce Willis as Detective Jimmy Monroe
* Tracy Morgan as Detective Paul Hodges
* Kevin Pollak as Hunsaker
* Seann William Scott as Dave
* Sean Cullen as Captain Jack Romans
* Jason Lee as Roy
* Rashida Jones as Debbie Hodges
* Adam Brody as Barry Mangold
* Guillermo Diaz as Poh Boy
* Adrian Martinez as Tino
* Cory Fernandez as Juan Diaz
* Michelle Trachtenberg as Ava Monroe
* Francie Swift as Pam
* Ana de la Reguera as Gabriela
* Jim Norton as George
* Marcus I. Morton as Tommy
Production
Initially titled 'A Couple of Dicks', the title went through various name changes before release, first as 'A Couple of Cops' and then to 'Cop Out', with the final title emerging from Smith's belief that changing the original title was a "cop out". The film marks the first movie that Smith directed that he did not write.
The studio requested Smith to storyboard the entire film; Smith agreed, and he and Dave Klein, the director of photography, reviewed the results with Warner Bros. two months in advance. Filming began on June 2, 2009 in New York City and finished on August 14, 2009, for a February 26, 2010 release.
Smith took a pay cut in order to work on the film, which he wanted to do because of Bruce Willis's involvement. However, in a 2011 interview with comedian/podcast host Marc Maron, Smith revealed that working with Willis ended up proving "soul crushing".
Ultimately, 'Cop Out' cost Warner Bros. $37 million to produce.
Release
Marketing
The first trailer for the film was released on December 23, 2009, and then attached to 'Sherlock Holmes'. A red band trailer was also released on February 5, 2010. The film was also advertised extensively in the United States during NBC's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.Theatrical
'Cop Out' was released theatrically in the United States on February 26, 2010, by Warner Bros. Pictures.Home media
In May 2010, DVD and Blu-ray Disc editions of the film were announced for release on July 20, 2010. In July of that year, 'Cop Out' was the #1 selling DVD in the US.Reception
Box office
'Cop Out' grossed $44.9 million in the United States and Canada and $7.4 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $55.4 million, against its production budget of $30 million.The film opened #2 behind 'Shutter Island', earning $18.2 million its opening weekend.
Critical response
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 18% based on 163 reviews and an average rating of 3.90/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "'Cop Out' is a cliched buddy action/comedy that suffers from stale gags and slack pacing." On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 31 out of 100 based on 35 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.Roger Ebert gave the film 1.5 out of 4 and wrote: "Many of the gags possibly looked good on paper, but watching Willis and Morgan struggle with them is like watching third graders do Noel Coward, if Noel Coward had been rewritten by Kevin Smith."
The film was later compared to 'The Other Guys', a buddy cop comedy film which was released several months afterwards and was better received by critics; Stephen Whitty of 'The Star-Ledger' said in his review of the latter film, "Measured against this years other police farce remember 'Cop Out'? it looks absolutely heroic."
Controversies
On the January 17, 2011 episode of 'WTF with Marc Maron', Smith discussed his disappointment with working with Bruce Willis and his satisfaction with working with Tracy Morgan during the making of 'Cop Out'. Smith stated that one of the reasons that he agreed to direct the film was because he wanted to work with Willis, but that Willis "wouldn't even sit for a fucking poster shoot" and that "were it not for Tracy, I might have killed either myself or someone else in the making of fucking 'Cop Out'."[http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episodes/episode_141_-_kevin_smith "Episode 141 - Kevin Smith"] WTF with Marc Maron. Retrieved August 27, 2012.A talent rep associated with the production of the film reported conflicts on set between Smith and Willis, saying of Smith, "He smokes way too much pot. He sat behind his monitor. He didn't interact with the actors. The actors felt they were on their own." Smith defended his use of marijuana while working, saying, "I dealt with every actor who wanted to be dealt with on that set" and pointed to the number of projects he worked on while making 'Cop Out' to counter claims he was unproductive because of marijuana. Smith admitted in an interview that heavy marijuana-smoking had become an integral part of his work ethic after claiming that he watched actor Seth Rogen on the set of 'Zack and Miri Make a Porno' use marijuana as a tool to become a more creative and productive worker, saying, "The moment I start smoking, I start working.... That way, no one could ever take it away from you."
In 2022, after the news of Willis' retirement from acting due to an ongoing battle with aphasia was disclosed by his family, Smith apologized for his past comments.
In response to the critical drubbing 'Cop Out' received, Smith lashed out at the community of film critics on his Twitter account saying, "Writing a nasty review for 'Cop Out' is akin to bullying a retarded kid. All you've done is make fun of something that wasn't doing you any harm and wanted only to give some cats some fun laughs." Smith also implied on Twitter that he may charge critics for advance screenings of his films, a service which has typically been provided free; this subsequently ignited a strong response from some critics condemning his stance as "dishonest" and "disingenuous".
Critic Roger Ebert, responding to Smith, tweeted, "Kevin Smith thinks critics should have had to pay to see 'Cop Out'. But Kev, then they would REALLY have hated it.
References
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