Cop Out (2010)

Cop Out (2010) is a buddy cop movie that pays homage to the 80's, even down to the pairing of a white guy with personal issues (Bruce Willis), and a motor-mouthed black guy (Tracy Morgan).  Combine it with an irate chief of  police, cheesy 80s music, and snarky colleagues, and you have some serious nostalgia, quicker than you can say Another 48 Hours.

The crude, and occasionally funny, dialog was probably the highlight of the flick for me, although it does start to wear thin after thirty minutes.  As a side-note, I'm not offended by coarse language, but an encounter with a 10 year old foul-mouthed car thief left a rather sour taste in my mouth (but hey, who am I kidding - I was just as offensive when I was his age).

The plot is perfunctory, and combines Mexican drug dealers, a kidnapped drug lord's daughter, a baseball card, and a wedding.  Nothing is new, or presented in an inventive way.

The movie feels listless; there's no momentum propelling the movie film, nor are the characters particularly endearing (but Willis and Morgan do have some on-screen chemistry, and their interplay is amusing at times.)  Perhaps I'm just used to bigger vehicles for Willis, but the movie just felt too small for him.

If you're a child of the 80s you'll get a few retro-kicks from Cop Out (I certainly did). But if you're not a thirty-something like me, you'll probably want to give this a miss.