Poll: What's the Best Buddy Cop Movie?

Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan star in the latest buddy cop movie, Kevin Smith's Cop Out. It joins a long line of films in the sub-genre, and even the sub-sub-genre of interracial cop movies. No matter what the plot is, a few things about buddy cop movies are always the same: One cop is more by the book, the other not quite so much, and there's always friction with the chief.

When trying to single out the best buddy cop movies (although for my money and possibly yours, Lethal Weapon is the top choice), we have to ask what the boundaries are. Do they have to actually be police officers? What about feds? Do both of them even need to be human? Does it have to have comic overtones? Or can it simply be two people who seem to be polar opposites investigating a crime? I'd like to be as true to the sub-genre as I can, which is usually metropolitan police officers in an action comedy, but at the same time, what's really the difference between Lethal Weapon and Men in Black and Sherlock Holmes? Not much. So I've opened it up a little bit. Here are fi'teen choices, and you have other suggestions, please leave them in the comments section.

Click to read more ...

'Lethal Weapon 5' Looks More and More Unlikely

So Lethal Weapon is not lethal anymore. Screenwriter Shane Black told Moviehole the idea to get the band back together for a fifth film probably will never materialize after Mel Gibson turned down the chance to play Det. Martin Riggs again.

This project has been using more jab steps than Kobe Bryant to fake us out for the past six months. There were the nebulous rumblings about a fifth movie, then Columbus Short said he'd talked to the right people about playing Danny Glover's son, who would be a much bigger character this time around. Then Richard Donner, who directed all four movies said it wouldn't happen, then he said it might happen (or maybe it would happen and then it wouldn't), and now here's Black again disavowing the notion. Interestingly, the stuff about Columbus Short seems to mesh with Black's screenplay, in which Riggs and Murtaugh would team with Murtaugh's son on one last go-round.

Click to read more ...

'Lethal Weapon 5' Still on Life-Support

I'm neither for nor against a Lethal Weapon 5. On the one hand, it's a fifth movie in a franchise, and there's really no point to that. Like, ever. On the other hand, as I've said before, if they come at it completely fresh, like it's the first sequel instead of the fourth, the characters of Riggs and Murtaugh might have a little life. Imagine how much crazy we'd buy out of Mel Gibson now.

It was bandied about - one of my favorite phrases - and then Richard Donner, who directed the first four flicks, said Mel wasn't interested. But apparently, what he meant was that Mel wasn't currently interested. Here's the revisionist history: "We talked about it, but it was something that Mel didn't want to do now," explained Silver. "It doesn't mean that he doesn't want to do it ever, but as of right now, he doesn't." Silver also tells IGN that the idea for the fifth one was fairly solid. Of course, he made movies out of the third and fourth ones, too, so, take that into consideration. "If we can do it, it would be fun," promised the director. "Shane Black had a great take on it, a great idea, a great feeling about it. He did a really complex kind of treatment or outline, very complicated, very good."

Click to read more ...

'Lethal Weapon 5' Is "Dead in the Water"

Perhaps we should have analyzed the words of Columbus Short more carefully. Wow, I think I'm the first person to ever use that sentence.

Last week, Short commented on rumors that he might be cast in Lethal Weapon 5. He said that producer Joel Silver had contacted him about joining a cast that would naturally include Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. But now the entire project sounds doomed, thanks to Richard Donner.Donner directed all four of the previous Weapon flicks, and he tells the Los Angeles Times, "Mel turned it down."You and I both know that without Gibson, it ain't Lethal Weapon, especially since we would buy Riggs' craziness a hell of a lot more now than five years ago, thanks to Gibson's outbursts."I would like to think that Mel turned it down because I wasn't involved," added Donner. "Knowing Mel, I would like to think that. Would that be the kind of thing he does? It sure would be."

Click to read more ...

Columbus Short Heats Up 'Lethal Weapon 5' Rumors

Stomp the Yard is not a great film. Let's be frank. But it's made estimably better by the performance of Columbus Short, a choreographer-turned-actor who can be seen this weekend in Quarantine. IGN recently chatted with Short about another project on the horizon, the rumored cinquel to Lethal Weapon. Perhaps because he's still fairly new to this whole movie rumor game, Short was beyond forthcoming about the movie."Joel Silver talked to me about it and I was like, 'Uh...yeah, I'll do Lethal Weapon with Danny and Mel,'" he said. When asked if his character would be as Danny Glover's son, Short responded, "That's what the role is, and hopefully, they get it together. Joel says it's gonna be a great role, so we'll see." He added, "They're trying to do it now, they're trying to fast-track it now."Would this be the worst thing in the world? Probably not. It was a solid series until they just got too carried away with it. Hopefully a decade-and-a-half of downtime could've bought everyone enough time to be creative and invested again. I think you absolutely need Shane Black to write it, but that's just me. We've seen these after-the-fact retreads work (Rocky Balboa) and not work so well (Rambo). I think the key is to do them for the right reasons, to make it less of a fifth Lethal Weapon and more of a first Lethal Weapon. Throw out everything we know and start fresh.