The new Kevin Smith comedy “Cop Out” is getting hammered by movie critics the day before its nationwide release.
Pathetic. Witless. Clumsy. Even soul sapping.
But is the film racist as well?
“Cop Out,” co-starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan as NYPD’s not so finest, includes some sequences critics find offensive.
Armond White of the New York Press, a reliably contrarian voice in film critic circles, slams star Tracy Morgan for his performance:
His broad face and goofy baritone are the essence of how Hollywood once tried to stereotype Louis Armstrong; yet Morgan embraces the denigration, performing a string of mortifying buffooneries.
Critic Emanuel Levy also found fault with Morgan’s character and how the film depicts the Latino heavies in the film.
There’s also an uncomfortable racial awkwardness to a great deal of the material that makes “Cop Out” feel rather unseemly. The opening Morgan monologue is dangerously close to a minstrel act. (Not to mention a recurring and very abysmal subplot involving his raging insecurities about his wife’s alleged infidelities.)
Worst of all, the Mexican criminal lords that become the movie’s traditional heavies are so lazily conceived, overscaled and outrageously drawn that turns “Cop Out” not only into a bad film though a somewhat unpleasant one.
Miami Herald critic Rene Rodriguez also isn’t comfortable with how “Cop Out” paints the bad guys:
‘The pair run afoul of a gang of Latino baddies who are portrayed in such a stereotypically racist manner you feel magically teleported back into one of those Steven Seagal movies in which villains were defined primarily by ethnicity.
WWTW will post its review tomorrow, but I think throwing charges of racism around should never be done lightly.
What about intent? Did the filmmakers try to insult a particular race? And how do the sequences in question measure up to the rest of the film?
Morgan is a star of some clout, a showbiz veteran who should be able to decide if a character he plays has a dignity that defies racial stereotyping.
No one forced him to play his character as he does here, and it seems obvious much of his performance is ad libbed.
(More below)
As for the Mexican villains, if the other characters in the film were well defined, the racist charges would have more chance of sticking.
But in a throwaway, ’80s style buddy picture like “Cop Out,” no supporting players are given the chance to break free from their one-note descriptions.
WWTW will post more critics reactions as they become available. And readers can let me know over the weekend if Smith’s latest is offensive in all the wrong ways.
(Photo: Tracy Morgan plays Paul, a veteran cop, in Warner Bros. Pictures’ crime comedy “Cop Out.” Photo by Abbot Genser)
Related posts:
on 
on 
on 
on 
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I have to say that there’s an interesting tension with the portrayal of minorities in cinema: on the one side, they should be complex, deep, thoughtful characters, true to their ethnic heritage but not in an offensive way, but at the same time they’re supposed to be reasonable parts of often lightweight or even asinine cinema. Clearly characters like the hated Jar-Jar Binks from “Star Wars” (and the ghastly ‘bots in “Transformers 2″) cross the line into crass stereotypes, but what if that’s the point of them being in the movie? What if the actors are hired to play stereotypical characters because — like yet another episode of “Scary Movie” or similar — that’s their role? Methinks we’ve just become too politically correct, too uptight, for us to play with and look in the face of stereotypes, particularly of our own ethnic subgroups.
I haven’t seen “Cop Out”, but even from the previews it’s pretty clear that it’s as shallow as a puddle on the sidewalk after a light shower, and those critics expecting complex multifaceted characterizations from either Willis or Morgan might have just gone into the wrong theater at the multiplex in the first place…
I think the freedom today’s actors have is to portray characters any way they please. If Morgan thinks playing a juvenile cop will crack up audiences, so be it. Far be it from critics to dictate the kind of comedy he can embrace.
Tracy Morgan….mortifying buffooneries?
Have you not seen 30 Rock?
Morgan is simply being who he is. That’s the way most actors do it. The true racists are the people who call his natural mannerisms a “sterotype”.
These leftist bigots are demanding he dance. He’s not good enough as he is. He needs to quit acting all “darkie” and get with the program.
The left is populated by the absolute scum of this earth..
One can tell from the trailer alone that this is one of the most painfully unfunny movies ever made. No one should be forced to undergo the agony of watching it just to judge whether or not it’s racist.
Did anyone ask Harry Reid for his opinion of Tracy Morgan’s dialect?
Sheesh, when is full equality going to be equal enough? Doesn’t equality mean being able to make decisions on one’s own? Are black people supposed to go from the plantation owned by the white slave master to the ones owned by the black race hustlers? These guys must be really insecure as to think that a black guy cutting up in a movie denigrates the entire race.
The arguments concerning this movie are outrageous. Certainly aspects of this movie may be interpreted as racist. It can also be considered an iteration of a now classic movie archetype, the ‘buddy cop’ film. There is evidence for both. Can’t this movie be Tracy Morgan acting brilliantly in an overall racist production? Could the performance be good, but the premise be bad? Maybe Morgan sold out for money (as most people do when given the opportunity)? Either way this isn’t a liberal/conservative argument. An informed dialog shouldn’t be pegged to two opposing poles. Silly.
I wonder what today’s movie critics would think of “Blazing Saddles”? The benchmark of stereotyped buffooneries! Comedy before PC…
RE: Patrick
1) Tracy Morgan has never acted brilliantly.
2) Interpretations aren’t fact or intention. They reveal more about the interpreter than anything.
3) What in Hollywood is NOT political these days?
Just sayin’.
Tracy Morgan was just being who he is: A drunken comedian who mentions he’s black all the time. Personally, I never noticed until he pointed that out. Atleast he did a couple amusing SNL sketches.
I will say after seeing the previews Bruce Willis looks great for his age, he must of got on a new exercise regiment. Give that man another Die Hard movie.
I find such discussions about movie characters both annoying and fascinating. Dave Taylor hits the mark with this comment:
Let’s put aside the question of whether Tracy Morgan’s artistic choices in “Cop Out” crossed the line of a “reasonable” portrayal of a black man in a piece of “lightweight or even asinine cinema.” Taylor’s remark, and this whole debate, reminded me immediately of the “Magic Negro” stereotype that Morgan Freeman has played in various movies such as “Bruce Almighty” and “Evan Almighty.” But Freeman’s Oscar-nominated turn in “The Shawshank Redemption” is probably not just his best performance, but the best contemporary example of the genre.
Briefly, the “Magic Negro” stereotype is that of the one-dimensional black character who’s only purpose is to serve as the moral conscience of the film — invariably teaching white folks the errors of their racist, backward-thinking ways. (Though Will Smith nailed two black stereotype characters in one with his almost Jar-Jar-level simple-talkin’ “Bagger Vance.” A cringe-worthy performance for which the NAACP nonetheless nominated him for an “Image Award.”)
The Magic Negro is a tiresome cliche — and insulting, in its own way — but liberal movie critics usually have little to criticize about it. I suppose that’s because Hollywood believes modern American audiences still need that wisdom delivered with a sledgehammer.
Frankly, I’m sick of it — almost as sick as I am of the tough-as-nails woman action hero who can knock heads just as well as the fellas … until near the end when she needs the male hero to rescue her. How about just once — once — that character gets in a little over her head and … well … dies. Or she at least loses the fight and emerges with a missing earring and her hair mussed in a non-attractive way.
Oh, and I chuckle every time I happen to stumble across “Law & Order” or any film that features a court scene and after the words “All rise! …” a black woman emerges from chambers and takes a seat at the bench. Hollywood seems so determined to atone for “Song of the South” and “Buckwheat” and other past cinematic “sins” that it has created a world where 75 percent of judges in America are black women. OK. We get it. You want to create role models for minorities. We’re paying attention, and it’s a good thing. But you’ve gone so overboard that you’ve practically created a drinking game one can play with the remote control. (One shot if a minority emerges from chambers. Two shots if the judge is black. Three shots if the judge is a black woman. And finish the bottle if she’s “feisty.”)
Wake me when Hollywood portrays the “psycho Marine scarred by Bush’s senseless wars!!!!!” as a black man from Chicago, and not a “redneck” from Texas or Alabama. That’s a damaging, hurtful stereotype Hollywood never gets sick of portraying on film, and seems to have not a twinge of guilt about.
I need a translator when listening to Tracy Morgan. Marbles in the mouth and incredibly unfunny.
Newsflash, there really are Latino gangs, that are only Latinos. there are also gangs that are only haitians, and gangs that are only oriental. There are black people that are comedians, that make fun of being black. These “characters” exist in real life, whether liberals like it or not. it just seems that only certain minority groups are “protected” by white liberals. Italians can be portrayed as fat spaghetti eating mobsters, or veterans can be shown as fringe sociopaths and not a peep. Christians are portrayed as backwards yahoos all the time, nothing from the liberal echo chamber. How about writing a sitcom where the young nerd kid isn’t smarter than his parents, or the gay character is an aids infected sexual deviant, instead of the nicest, smartest, most misunderstood guy in the room all the time. Those are some stereotypes I’d love to see go away.
if they’re not portraying the oppressed, stoic, Nelson Mandela or strong cool, Morpheus, guess the black actor shouldn’t work.
i think the whole Madea thing is pretty racist, but Tyler Perry gets off with no complaints.
oh yeah, white dudes can always act like funny fools, cause that’s what we are.
Mike – Actually, I have heard some people criticize Perry for just such a thing. But I think the people who work with him are fiercely protective of him and the work atmosphere he creates. Plus, his movies turn a profit which often helps blunt criticism.
The one thing missing from the discussion on racial stereotypes in movies is the current setting – we’re living in America where the president is black, the house speaker is female, the top grossing movie star (Will Smith) is black, the biggest athlete is black, where white kids are buying rap music and anime in droves … this isn’t exactly 1920s Georgia or Alabama.
So how does one kill the stereotype? Jackie Chan all but abandoned American film due to perpetuated stereotypes, yet his Hong Kong fare is chock full of them.
One-dimensional caricatures are not going away, though I’m all for more three-dimensional, multi-facted renderings of anyone – but even the so-called politically correct heroes are nothing but cardboard. Angelina Jolie is a great actress, her tough-woman shtick is as skin deep as Ahnold or Sly in their prime. Law and Order is a parody of liberal preconceptions of crime and law enforcement – the tough guy with the heart of gold, the tough woman with a heart of gold, the tough boss with a heart of gold, the tough judge with a heart of gold – just slather the skin color and the sexual preferences about, with your typical white, religious corporate villain, it’s all set. The kids at the local public access station are more creative.
It’s always easier to do cardboard – if great film was easy, everyone would make a great film, the same with great characters. I just wonder what Kevin Smith of 1993 would think of the Kevin Smith of today doing a buddy-cop film with knock-knock jokes.
The writer/producer of this movie is a completely IGNORANT RACIST. He needs to get his [expletive] straight, literally. First off, most drug trade to the east coast comes from Puerto Rico or South America straight into Florida (watch border wars) anyone who knows whats up with drug movement here, knows this. Secondly NONE of those guys that played “Mexican gangsters” from NY were even Mexican but Puerto Rican. Them putting Mexican “gangsters” in NY instead of Puerto Ricans & Dominicans, makes no sense to anyone whos from NY because the hispanic street gangs here aren’t Mexican.