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Cop Out (2010 film)

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Cop Out
Official poster
Directed byKevin Smith
Written byMark Cullen
Robb Cullen
Produced byMarc E. Platt
Polly Johnsen
Michael Tadross
StarringBruce Willis
Tracy Morgan
Seann William Scott
CinematographyDave Klein
Edited byKevin Smith
Music byHarold Faltermeyer
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • February 26, 2010 (2010-02-26)
Running time
107 minutes[1]
CountryTemplate:FilmUS
LanguageEnglish
Budget$37 million[2]
Box office$55,444,975[3]

Cop Out is 2010 American film directed by Kevin Smith, written by brothers Mark and Robb Cullen, and starring Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan & Seann William Scott. The main plot revolves around two longtime NYPD partners (portrayed by Willis and Morgan) on the trail of a stolen, rare, mint-condition baseball card who find themselves up against a merciless, memorabilia-obsessed violent gangster. This is the first film that Smith directed for which he did not write the screenplay.

Plot

James "Jimmy" Monroe (Bruce Willis) and Paul Hodges (Tracy Morgan), cops working for the NYPD, are celebrating their ninth year together as partners. After failing to capture Juan Diaz (Cory Fernandez) and for causing a disastrous neighborhood shootout and beating up a child, a heartless police captain suspends them without pay refusing to care about Jim's feelings for his daughter's wedding. Jimmy's daughter Ava (Michelle Trachtenberg) is getting married, and the price for the wedding is close to fifty thousand dollars. Though his ex-wife Pam's second husband Roy (Jason Lee) offers to pay for the wedding, Jimmy is determined to find a way to come up with the money so that Roy won't humiliate him. Paul is worried that his wife Debbie (Rashida Jones) is cheating on him, so he sets up a secret video camera in a teddy bear. While Jimmy is selling a 1952 Andy Pafko baseball card to pay for the wedding, Paul is calling Debbie. Jimmy is robbed by Dave (Seann William Scott), who steals his card and Paul's favorite gun whilst robbing the shop Jimmy was selling his card to. They find out that Dave is going to rob a house that night, so they stake out the house to retrieve the card and gun. Paul arrests Dave and discovers he has sold the card and gun for a better script.

Jimmy previews the tape from Paul's hidden camera and finds what looks to be Debbie and another man, but tells Paul there's nothing on it. They go to the dealer, Poh Boy (Guillermo Díaz), who tells them they may have the card if they retrieve a stolen car. When they find the car, they discover a distressed woman named Gabriela (Ana de la Reguera) in the trunk. Paul then sees the tape from his hidden camera and is heartbroken when he sees that Jimmy has lied: Debbie is with another man in their bedroom. Gabriela reveals that she's the mistress of a murdered drug lord who was kidnapped by Poh Boy's gang. Not wanting to get Jimmy and Paul hurt, she flees, leaving for them a flashdrive concealed in a cross, which contains information about offshore bank accounts. Jimmy and Paul pay Dave's bail so that he may retrieve the card and gun, but he falls out of a tree and apparently dies. Jimmy goes in to retrieve the card, but is surrounded by the gang. At the same time, Paul learns that Debbie is not cheating on him after all: she has played a trick on him for hiding the camera in their bedroom. 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 the head of the baseball player on Jimmy's card, which is hidden in Poh Boy's shirt pocket. Pleased with the duo's investigation and assisting two colleagues (Adam Brody & Kevin Pollak) who were caught in the shootout, the precinct chief (Sean Cullen) restores Jimmy and Paul to active duty and gives them commendations.

Dejected at the destruction of his prized card, Jimmy lets Roy pay for the wedding, but Paul discreetly points his pistol at Roy and orders him to sit down at the moment the priest calls out the father who would give away Ava. During the closing credits, it is revealed that Dave did not die in the fall when he pulls a prank on the coroner opening the body bag by doing one of his knock-knock jokes.

Cast

Production

In March 2009 it was announced that Kevin Smith signed on to direct a buddy-cop comedy starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan (both of whom Smith had worked with on previous projects) titled A Couple of Dicks and written by the Cullen Brothers, the first feature film Smith has ever directed, but not written.[4][5] Prior to principal photography, Variety reported[6] that the title had been changed to A Couple of Cops due to controversy surrounding the original one.[7] After negative reaction to the change, Warner Bros. recanted the story and reverted to the original title,[8] though Smith denies that the original change was requested by the studio.[6] In December 2009, the studio changed the title from A Couple of Dicks to Cop Out.[9] While promoting the film on The Late Show with David Letterman, Willis joked that, in addition to A Couple of Dicks, the movie had at one point gone by the also-rejected title of Cop Suckers.

[T]he Cullen brothers are dialogue crazy — the whole movie is like cops who are practically married but not actually, and, I mean, that's right up my alley. It's like Dante and Randal as cops.

— Kevin Smith, on why he wanted to direct the film[6]

On December 9, 2009, Kevin Smith announced via his Twitter page that the film would indeed go by the new title.[10][11] He also stated that the first trailer for this film would be attached to every copy of Sherlock Holmes when it hits theaters on Christmas day.[12] At the time, Smith acknowledged that the film is "not MY movie, [it's] a movie I was hired to direct."[13][14]

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.[6] Filming began on June 2, 2009 in New York City and finished on August 14, 2009,[15] for a February 26, 2010 release.

Ultimately, Cop Out cost Warner studios $37 million to produce.[2]

Marketing

The first trailer for the film was released on December 23, 2009 and then attached to Sherlock Holmes.[16] 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.

Box office

The film opened #2 behind Shutter Island,[17] earning $18,211,126 on its opening weekend.[3] As of May 20, 2010 Cop Out has earned $44,875,481 at the domestic box office and $7,338,581 overseas giving it a worldwide total of $55,439,786[3]

Critical reception

The film was panned by critics and received overwhelmingly negative reviews, representing Smith's worst rated film by critics to date. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes labeled the film "rotten", reporting that only 19% of critics nationwide have given the film a positive review based on 154 reviews, with an average score of 3.8/10.[18] Critical consensus is: "Cop Out is a cliched buddy action/comedy that suffers from stale gags, slack pacing and textbook editing".[18] Review aggregate Metacritic gave the film an average score of 31 out of 100 based on 34 reviews.[19] Some critics praised the Will Ferrell film The Other Guys, released the same year, as the best comedy police film of the year against the critically panned Cop Out, with Richard Roeper stating, "Note to Kevin Smith: THIS is how you do a spoof of the buddy-cop genre,"[20] and Stephen Whitty of The Star-Ledger said in his mixed review, "Measured against this year’s other police farce -- remember Cop Out? -- it looks absolutely heroic."[21]

Controversy

A source close to the project reported terrible conflicts on set between Smith and Bruce Willis, "[Smith] smokes way too much pot," says the talent rep of Smith. "He sat behind his monitor. He didn't interact with the actors. The actors felt they were on their own."[22] Smith admitted in an interview that heavy pot-smoking had become an integral part of his work ethic after Zack and Miri Make a Porno, "The moment I start smoking, I start working. ... That way, no one could ever take it away from you."[23]

Kevin Smith thinks critics should have had to pay to see "Cop Out." But Kev, then they would REALLY have hated it.

— Critic Roger Ebert, responding to Smith[24]

In response to the critical drubbing his 2010 film Cop Out received, Kevin 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."[25][26] 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".[25]

Home video

In May 2010, DVD and Blu-ray editions of the film were announced for release on July 20, 2010.[27] In July, Cop Out was the #1 selling DVD in the US.[28]

References

  1. ^ "COP OUT rated 15 by the BBFC". Bbfc.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
  2. ^ a b Fritz, Ben (February 25, 2010). "Movie Projector: 'The Crazies' could drive 'Cop Out' mad". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Retrieved April 2, 2010. Cop Out cost Warner $37 million to make, setting its bar for success higher.
  3. ^ a b c "Cop Out (2010)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-03-01.
  4. ^ "SModcast 79". Quickstopentertainment.com. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
  5. ^ "erc BoxOffice". erc BoxOffice. 2010-09-23. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
  6. ^ a b c d Kevin Smith on A Couple of Dicks and the Collapse of Zack and Miri, a May 14, 2009 entertainment article from New York magazine
  7. ^ "Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan are "A Couple of Cops" for Kevin Smith". Moviesblog.mtv.com. 2008-10-17. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
  8. ^ ""A Couple of Dicks", Warner Bros. Doesn't Cop Out". Slashfilm.com. 2009-03-05. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
  9. ^ "(Exclusive) Smith's 'A Couple of Dicks' New Title Revealed, 'Inception' Trailer For Christmas". Thefilmstage.com. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
  10. ^ Twitter / KevinSmith: (1/3) DICKS NEWS: The Movi. Twitter.com (2009-12-07). Retrieved on 2010-12-22.
  11. ^ Twitter / KevinSmith: (2/3) we'll always have DI. Twitter.com (2009-12-07). Retrieved on 2010-12-22.
  12. ^ "Twitter / KevinSmith: (3/3) we can now advertise". Twitter.com. 2009-12-07. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
  13. ^ Twitter / KevinSmith: Via @Coyote_Rose "Wait a m. Twitter.com (2009-12-07). Retrieved on 2010-12-22.
  14. ^ "News | News Shorts: December 9th 2009 – December 9th 2009". Dark Horizons. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
  15. ^ "Dicks" About to Wrap it Up[dead link]
  16. ^ "Kevin Smith's 'Cop Out' Trailer". Thefilmstage.com. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
  17. ^ "Weekend Box Office Results for February 26–28, 2010". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-03-01.
  18. ^ a b "Cop Out Film Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2011-01-03.
  19. ^ "Cop Out reviews at Metacritic.com". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2010-02-26.
  20. ^ "Richard Roeper Review". Richardroeper.com. Retrieved 2010-09-26.
  21. ^ Macall Polay (2010-08-06). "The Other Guys Review". Nj.com. Retrieved 2010-09-26.
  22. ^ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/kevin-smith-alarmist-ninnies-misinterpreted-95811
  23. ^ http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1657568/kevin-smith-i-became-stoner-because-seth-rogen.jhtml
  24. ^ "Kevin Smith thinks critics..."
  25. ^ a b "Kevin Smith's Online Rant Gets Heated Response From Film Critics". MTV. 2010-03-25. Retrieved 2010-08-05.
  26. ^ "Kevin Smith Attacks Critics".
  27. ^ David McCutcheon (May 13, 2010). "Cop Out Ousted to Home". IGN. News Corporation. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
  28. ^ "'Cop Out' tops U.S. DVD sales chart". UPI.com. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
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