Scaring information out of low-life drug dealers isn’t officer Paul Hodges’ (Tracy Morgan) strength. He tries to use a “Good Cop/Insane Cop” routine that is less than intimidating. He isn’t very good at solving crimes or chasing down criminals either. About the only thing he is good at it is spouting old cop movie lines.

And that’s how the rest of “Cop Out” plays out as well — a barely coherent, hardly serious satire that is layered with references to other movies.

As “Cop Out” progresses, it’s hard to tell which story is supposed to be the focus. There is a case to solve for officers Jimmy Monroe (Bruce Willis) and Paul. Later the audience is introduced to multiple side stories and emotional baggage. Paul suspects his wife (Rashida Jones) is cheating on him, and Jimmy has to catch the person who stole a vintage baseball card to pay for his daughter’s wedding.

“Cop Out” constantly spins the audience around through a rotating door of side-plots, while the actual police case fails as the backbone of the film. It also suffers from underdeveloped action scenes as well as an abrupt climax that hardly feels like a moment of pinnacle tension.

Willis pulls out his “Die Hard” persona John McClane for “Cop Out,” acting as the same character with a different name. But Willis is able to adopt the persona of a bitter but down-to-earth veteran cop.

 Morgan’s character is fair as the goofy partner, even though there are moments where his character is hardly bearable. The fact that he yells or moans many of his lines makes him borderline annoying.

Director Kevin Smith loves to pay tribute to other movies in his films, but the signature lines in “Cop Out” are not nearly as creatively expressed as they were in Smith’s previous works like “Clerks” and “Clerks II.” There are so many references it feels like a cheap shotgun effect.

“Cop Out” does have some funny moments. The opening scene is humorous mostly in Jimmy’s response to Paul’s ridiculous interrogation techniques. Their meeting with an infamous car thief in New York also has a comedic twist.

 “Cop Out” can easily be called an Americanized version of “Hot Fuzz,” another cop-action satire. Unfortunately, “Cop Out’s” dedications to other action cop movies are not smoothly assimilated into the already problematic film.

 

“Cop Out” was written by Robb and Mark Cullen and directed by Kevin Smith.