Kevin Smith constructs an epic picture-in-picture commentary on the Warner Home Video Blu-ray release of Cop Out, stretching the 107-minute film to 175 minutes with asides, deleted scenes, outtakes and so on. At times, he not only delivers his spiel for the film, but he doubles or even triples his image to talk to himself about the movie and about his own indulgences.
Seann William Scott, who has a secondary role in the film, also recorded some material interacting with Smith, or at least pretending to. Smith’s riffs on the world of movies and moviemaking are always engaging, as much for the speed and dexterity with which his mind works as for the information he has to share, and with the elaborate BD presentation, rather than being an unseen voice, he becomes the film’s ringmaster, taking you through the movie, showing you the choices he had for various comedy scenes and guiding you over the construction of every sequence.
Poor Bruce Willis must have a hole on the inside of his mouth after all of the times he has to bite his lip to keep from laughing and wrecking the scenes in the enjoyable 2010 comedy, kind of an homage to the urban buddy movies of the Eighties (there is even a cheap little electronic keyboard musical score). Willis and Tracy Morgan play a pair of somewhat inept Brooklyn cops, who get suspended for messing up a drug investigation. They must then go chasing after the drug kingpin themselves, because he has something of value that was stolen from Willis’ character.
In any case, Morgan’s lovey-dovey antics are consistently humorous, and as funny as it is for the viewer, it is clearly absolute torture for Willis to try to keep a straight face and repeat his lines while responding to Morgan (and later, to Scott, who plays a wise-talking thief they pick up). Even Smith, who also took credit for the editing, gives up here and there, letting in a smirk or a laugh that is barely in character, probably because it was the only take where Willis had it even partially under control (Smith says in the commentary that one of his goals was to get Willis to break a smile during a take). The geography of the final shoot-out is a little off, and there are a few sequences where Smith’s duller image compositions go on a little too long without variation, but for the most part, the film is totally enjoyable, with one engaging comedic moment after another.
A second platter is included that contains a DVD copy of the film and a copy that can be downloaded onto handheld viewing devices. The BD is presented in letterboxed format with an aspect ratio of about 2.35:1. The color transfer is solid and the DTS sound is clear, although dimensional effects are limited and the musical score is intended to be on the wussy side. There are alternate French and Spanish tracks in 5.1-channel Dolby Digital and optional English, French and Spanish subtitles, along with 4 minutes of Scott sharing mangled New Age proverbs and 21 minutes of eccentric but informative production featurettes.
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