This movie travels the well trodden script path of a by-the-book-cop who isn’t allowed out on real cases due to a previous over zealous incident, suddenly finds herself in the midst of a high profile case where she has to go against everything she believes to get the job done.
Reese Witherspoon takes on the role of Cooper, the by the book cop. The start sets up her character through a series of extremely funny situations and witty dialogue. Obviously she has dating problems. So we see her on a date, when she whips out her gun, to which her date takes it the wrong way and a chase ensues. When finally she catches up and all is explained, he runs off, she notes that she expected a higher quality of man from ChristianMingle.com and then the waiter comes running in with the unpaid bill, noting how was hopeful that this one was the one.
A great start and after 10 minutes you start to settle in for what is going to be a very clever take on this old story. However, when you get to 15 minutes, you discover, the writers (David Feeney/John Quaintance) simply run out of steam. It is as if they got bored and forgot about the rest of the movie. Interestingly enough the writers are veterans of sitcom episodes, so there may be some mileage in the fact they couldn’t keep it up for a full 90 minutes.
By the time Sofía Vergara enters as the wife of the drug dealer and the person Cooper must take into protective custody the pace has slowed down and the cliches start to come in thick and fast.
There is a particular scene in a coach full of old people with what I can only describe as one of the worse green screen setups possible. It is painfully obvious everyone is reacting to some one shouting off-camera to all move in the same direction to simulate bumps. This level of choreography hasn’t been seen since William Shatners original Star Trek series in the 1960s.
The good news though, you can watch the trailer, or as I like to think of it, a compilation of all the funny bits and be completely caught up and have enough data to bluff your way through any conversation pretending to have seen it all.
Will say, there is a nod to 1980s Burt Reynolds movies at the end with the screen credits, when the outtakes are snapped in as the credits roll to the side. This I think is only to show you that the stars did indeed have fun doing the movie, just a shame that laughter didn’t translate to the scenes.
This movie will be great when the writers decide to finish the script.
Viewing Date
Thursday, 27th August 2015
Rating
4/10
alan williamson 