The Justice

Media Credit: Photo Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Paul Hodges (Tracy Morgan, center) and Jimmy Monroe (Bruce Willis) rescue a hostage in 'Cop Out.'

I admit that the main reason I was saw Cop Out was because it starred Tracy Morgan. I began paying attention to the actor in the TV series 30 Rock, in which he pretty much plays himself as Tracy Jordan, the self-centered and immature star of a sketch-comedy series. Tracy Morgan's humor in the show is frequently shocking, sometimes endearing, but always really, really funny. His role in Kevin Smith's buddy-cop action-comedy as Paul Hodges is essentially the same. He frequently bursts out with crude one-liners about anything from taking big dumps to simian oral sex. But it's apparent from Cop Out that Morgan's brand of humor doesn't quite fit into a full-length feature film, and it doesn't help that the movie itself is quite horrible. Actually, Morgan comes nowhere near close to saving what will probably be one of the worst movies of 2010.

Cop Out (originally titled A Couple of Dicks) is the first film directed by Kevin Smith that wasn't also written by him, a fact that helps explain the movie's uninspired plot. Morgan, as Hodges, is partnered with the coy Jimmy Monroe (Bruce Willis) to make an NYPD duo who lose their badges due to a failed attempt to track down some Mexican crime lords. Without their badges, they're forced to take on the criminals themselves after Monroe loses a valuable baseball card, a childhood possession he plans to sell to help finance his daughter's wedding. The card ends up in the hands of Poh Boy, the leader of the same Mexican gang Hodges and Monroe were investigating. The two cops resort to making a deal with Poh Boy, who promises Monroe the baseball card in exchange for finding the gang leader's stolen Mercedes. This leads to the discovery of a foxy ex-drug queen (Ana de la Reguera), who was kidnapped by Poh Boy and hidden inside the trunk of the Mercedes. Hodges and Monroe, with the help of a Parkour-loving thief (Seann William Scott), end up figuring out all of Poh Boy's plans, killing all of the drug lords, saving the hot girl and earning back their well-deserved police badges.

And the ending should hardly be a spoiler here, considering Cop Out's atrociously formulaic story. I expected no Scorcese, but the movie's crime elements serve no purpose toward suspense or humor. For silly fare like Cop Out, the hilarity usually hinges upon the performances by the actors, which Morgan does deliver a few times. He has a lively and entertaining presence in the movie, especially during a couple of his ridiculous one-liners that come out of nowhere. There are random funny moments here and there, but the time in between gets exhaustingly boring.

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