Movie Review: Copshop

 

Michael's Movie Grade: C+

A fun action thriller with a dark sense of humor. 

The storyline of this movie may stretch the suspension of disbelief even for a film like this. To say it is over the top and silly is an understatement. In fact the movie knows this and even covers a major part of the exposition in a brief and rushed dialogue scene, so we don't have to think about it too much. Yet despite this the movie won me over through its corny charm. One thing that sets this apart from similar movies is its sense of humor. This film has a really offbeat and very dark sense of humor that is quite funny. This is probably most evident in the character of Anthony Lamb. This is a psychopathically killer, who enjoys his job and jokes around while doing it a lot. Toby Huss gives such an over the top but completely committed performance that it is hard not to enjoy watching it. This character cracked me up often and was certainly a highlight of the movie. Yet not only the great funny moments came from him. For comments about one character's man-bun to the incredibly cheesy but charming ending, there are quite a few moments that put a real smile on my face. The cast in this movie was excellent. Alexis Louder was especially good even stealing the scenes from actors like Gerald Butler and Frank Grillo. Her acting even makes some of the most ridiculous scenes kind of work dramatically. This film also benefits from plenty of atmosphere and a good sense of cinematic playfulness, which recalls 1970's movies and TV shows (this is perfectly captured in the extremely 70's opening credits). The characters themselves are nothing fantastic but they do their job well enough. Our protagonist is very likable and easy to root for. On the same level the bad guys are easy to hate, but fun to watch. 

Anyways this is a fun little movie, just don't think about it too much.