It’s been awhile since Kevin Smith did Clerks, Dogma or Jay and Silent Bob. Since then, he’s apparently lost sight on what makes a successful comedy moving from brilliant to now ridiculous. In this, Paul (Tracy Morgan) and Jimmy (Bruce Willis) are NYPD partners. Paul likes to pay “homage” to old cop shows and classic movies by imitating everybody from Scarface to The Terminator, while Jimmy sits back as a practiced old timer with that infamous Willis expression and jaw line. When a drug bust/incident-gone-wrong gets them a 30 day suspension, it means Jimmy will lose the salary that he needs to cover his daughter (Michelle Trachtenberg’s) wedding. With little choice, he must sell his very old baseball card to finance the balance of the nuptials. But when the memorabilia card gets stolen, the two cops are sent on a wild goose chase that flies off the tracks – and hits the station in total train-wreck style – about thirty minutes into the film and right to the end. While Willis remains in control as the Willis we remember from Die Hard, the amusing, talented and slightly insane Morgan parades around much as he does on TV’s 30 Rock but with guns, badge and power. The real scene stealer is Sean William Scott, a sort of stoner-thief who gets the men in their mess from the start. The plot, however, goes from possible to impossible, very quickly. One tiara
