Cop Out

Perhaps after the miserable action/comedy flop that is "Cop Out," Hollywood will finally relegate director Kevin Smith to the marginal self-made indie fare for which he's known. Lump in hack screenwriter siblings Robb and Mark Cullen, and audiences will have at least a slightly better chance of not having to suffer though enough scatological humor to overflow every toilet in New Jersey. With a bare-bones plot that's hardly worth repeating, police partners of nine-years Jimmy (Bruce Willis) and Paul (Tracy Morgan) run around Brooklyn shooting, killing, and car-chasing like a couple of brainless clowns with badges. Of course it doesn't really matter that they're cops since the duo are already on a 30-day suspension from duty. You wouldn't ask a blogger to write the next "War and Peace," and no one in their right mind should ask Kevin Smith to direct a big budget movie. Even the soundtrack by composer Harold Faltermeyer sounds like it was cut-and-pasted from another equally crappy movie. You'll yawn, you'll squirm in your seat, and you'll wait impatiently for this interminable piece of trash to finally end.

(Warner Bros. Pictures) Rated R. 110 mins. (D) (One Star)