Bon Cop Bad Cop – Bon!
This movie rocks! And, yes, that is a professional critic’s opinion. Of course, my area of expertise isn’t movies… but phht, who cares?
I like movies. I like Colm Feore. I like hot Québécois. I like bilingualism. And I can live with hockey if I have to especially for the hot Québécois!
Bon Cop Bad Cop is a standard buddy cop movie set in Montreal and Toronto and played out in both official languages. The cultural stereotypes play nicely into the standard buddy-cop structure – break-the-rules-get-r-done cop partnered with play-it-by-the-book cop. They work together, have a couple of scraps and scrapes, and both learn to respect each other… blah blah blah.
It’s not the cookie-cutter structure that sucks you in. It’s not really even the hot québécois. It’s the intensity of the performances and writing which body checks you. From the open hostility for the mauvais anglais to the intense emotional protectiveness of both fathers anglo or québécois. You don’t doubt the humanity of these characters. (did I just write “humanity” in a post?!? Oh god, someone hand me another beer!)
The victim is found hanging half in Quebec, half in Ontario and the cops start quoting “on side” rules in different sports to establish jurisdiction, a la a
grade school playground. The Canadian humour at it’s truest. And it’s
an ever present part of the movie without crossing that penalty line
into SCTV silliness.
So, except for the bad-guy’s motivation, everything in Bon Cop Bad
Cop rang true for me. But then again, I’m a anglo-chick, so perhaps I’m
the wrong demographic to completely embrace his point of view. (Oh
no… now you know the bad guy’s a guy.)
I’d love to see more of this type of Canadian movie set in our
cities, with our performers and our languages. Sure, it’s mainstream,
the structure and relationships are predictable and it’s a little
“hollywood”. It’s also missing the Sex & Snowshoes quirkiness that
keeps Canadians at the top of the art-cinema awards. And in the smaller
screening rooms.
It’s fun, engaging and beautifully shot. And Canadian. Put down your beer, get off the couch and go see it!
