Comment of the Week: ‘Cop Out’ fallout

Some critics found the new buddy movie “Cop Out” racially insensitive. Wish they had checked in with Dave on Film before hitting the “send” button …

“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 …”

Related posts:

1. Comment of the Week – 4/17/09
2. ‘Bruno’ fallout
3. The ‘Marley’ fallout