crap

One of the best and most long-running feuds of the 90’s was the unlikely disagreement between Siskel and Ebert on “Cop and a Half”, the latter somehow finding this movie better than “Die Hard”, “Blue Velvet”, “A Clockwork Orange”, ect. Way more entertaining than the actual movie, it’s the most culturally significant thing to come out of this very much DOA attempt to capitalize on the big star works with kids genre.




That star is Burt Reynolds, who sleepwalks his way through a movie he doesn’t seem to have the least bit of enthusiasm to be in, allowing the young star Norman Golden II to easily walk away with it, for whatever good “It” actually is. He’s a bullied 8 year old kid named Devon who escapes his lonely life living with his, usually absentee, grandma (Ruby Dee) with cop shows. His dream is to eventually be a cop.




When the kid follows a suspicious vehicle one night, he winds up witnessing a murder, info he refuses to give up to the chief of police (Holland Taylor) and her cohorts unless they allow him chance to live out his dream of being a cop. And as cops are wont to do, they cave to this little boy’s demands. That brings Reynold’s Nick McKenna back into the film, an ornery man first seen destroying property, abusing suspects, and doing most other things only a movie cop would ever get away with.




But the big thing is he’s ornery and tired, which is supposed to go well with this sassy little black kid who repeats everything he hears on TV and through Nick. Nick, a burn-out with bad legs and cowboy boots, frequently says “Stop, I hate to run”. The kid says “damn civilians” several times. The joke is that it’s cute, but that can only take a movie so far, and it’s pretty clear Golden is even unsure of what to do with himself apart from the sass.




The interplay between them is pretty terrible though, starting with Nick blowing cigar smoke in the kid’s face. He can’t have a little kid as a partner cause they “usually fall off the stool after the first drink.” And when Devon is made to live with Nick, bedtime stories usually involve concussions and loss of testicles. For good measure, some of the better stuff is all bathroom humor. This is a headslapper of a script.




And I haven’t even gotten to all the car and boat chases and other violent scenarios the kid finds himself in, which no matter how cartoonish director Henry Winkler manages to make them, still aren’t funny or very appropriate situations for a kid to be in. Making the villains dopey 50’s crooners is another “wtf” bit of nothingness in a film full of it.




There are a few good ideas here- Devon pulling over his school principal is kinda fun and turning the tables on some bullies is a good one too. If the film had entertained more lightness like this, it maybe could have worked better. Mostly, everyone in it just looks embarrassed.