Cop Out

** - In one of his “An Evening with…” DVDs, Kevin Smith alludes to a conversation he had while on the set of “Live Free or Die Hard” with Bruce Willis in which the action superstar suggested that they should do a project together at some point since they are both from Jersey. I’m going to guess that “Cop Out” is the fruit of that conversation. I’m also going to guess that it isn’t a project that either of them that had a great deal of interest in doing apart from the other’s involvement in it, and are probably not very proud of the results, because it’s not very good. Kevin Smith is a dialogue man and not a very good director. He did not write the movie, but he did direct it. There is a major disconnect there. But the problems this movie had weren’t Smith or Willis related, really. It was mainly script related and steaming pile of unfunny poop Tracy Morgan related. Watching this you are likely to get a handful of belly laughs and a dozen or so mild chuckles, but that doesn’t make up for the rest of the film that is rather dull and treads ground that has been trodden many times before.