Cop and ½ (1993)

Cute little black kid wants to be a policeman. The diminuitive star, Norman Golden III is out to steal your heart while it feels like like the film-makers have stolen your wallet in the process.

This comes about a decade too late after the trend of cuddly black "child" stars Gary Coleman and Webster, who were both in their late 30's during their heyday. (I've always thought that a great idea for a TV show would be something called "Shrunken Miniature Black Man" cause apparently that's the way America wants to see them.) Anyway, back to this film...

It's basically Burt Reynolds co-starring with his toupee and trying to look put-upon by Golden. In actuality, over the course of the 90 minutes, actor Reynolds spends a lot of his on-screen time sweating profusely. It's actually kind of creepy.

Fmovies: Third-grader Devon wants to be a cop (though he has an idealized notion of what being a cop means from watching TV), and he pretends he already is when he is at school. This gets him in trouble with the principal.

Devon must also deal with bullies. He's not that tough when the kids are bigger.

Devon lives with his grandmother Rachel, a nurse who does the best she can to raise him. One day Devon goes off by himself when he is not supposed to, and he witnesses a murder (we don't; it's implied).

Reckless and curmudgeonly detective Nick McKenna is always getting in trouble, and when Devon wants to ride along with him, Nick has to let him. It's not like Nick's job is that secure. Nick has an attitude and seems to hate kids, and Devon is making his life miserable. Things get even worse when the crooks who committed the murder find out there was a witness and how to find him. Nick ends up with a roommate! But maybe Devon can Nick's attitude.

This is pretty close to being a family-friendly film (acceptable for older kids, maybe), and it's quite funny. There are a couple of fun chase scenes. One scene is surely the fantasy of every kid who was ever in trouble with the principal. And the bullies get theirs too. Plus the crooks aren't all that bright or dangerous, and kids will love a scene reminiscent of "Snow Day" and the original "Home Alone".

Burt Reynolds gives a good performance, although not one that compares with anything considered Oscar-worthy. Norman Golden is probably as close as any kid will ever be to becoming the next Gary Coleman (there was only one). And Ruby Dee has nothing to be ashamed of here: her character is strong and has values. And she's funny. No, it's not the sort of quality production she is normally associated with. But she adds to this movie.

It was fun. That's the important thing.

I have trouble thinking of a worse film. Somehow, this strip of celluloid manages to be both less interesting and more mundane than a poorly videotaped, second grade production of "The Pilgrims First Thanksgiving." And the Pilgrims may have even had better writing. The jokes are flat and can be seen coming from miles away, allowing the viewer to both not laugh and prepare not to laugh at the same time. The movie seems to pin all its hope on the cute factor of the "1/2" in the title (Norman D. Golden II).

Golden's performance is lackluster and painfully unfunny, but it puts the rest of the cast's performances to shame. In Golden's defence, I have a hard time seeing Macaulay Culkin, the Olsen twins and Shirley Temple (in their respective primes) combined, mustering enough endearing "awwws" to make this dog successful. The ending accomplishes absolutely nothing, and at the same time shatters any attempt the film had at considering serious issues, reminding us all why Key Grips should not write screenplays. I hope that all original prints of this film have been burned, save for two copies: one to be shown at a mandatory lecture on the first day of classes at NYU Film School, with the same deterrent intent as such Driver's Ed classics as "Blood on the Highway," and the second to be saved as a record of just how low The Bandit (Burt Reynolds) and The Fonz (Henry Winkler) sank before their eventual semi-resurrections in "Boogie Nights" (1997) and "The Water Boy" (1998), respectively.

Cop and ½ fmovies. "Cop and a half" is a very sweet and very exciting kind of cinematic genius. One of the stars is Burt Reynolds of "Smokey and the Bandit" and "Celebrity Jeopardy!" (just kidding!), and seeing him on the DVD cover sure is funny! Seeing the 8-year-old with the badge really cracks me up as well. All in all, the whole movie really cracks me up in laughter! This movie, along with the other early 90s Universal favorites like the "Problem Child" movies and "Kindergarten Cop" make these movies timeless. My grade for "Cop and a half" is a ten! Out of ten stars! This is a great movie to see with your kids tonight! Go to the video store and rent this one now!!!!!

This was one of my all time favorite movies as a kid.

People seem to forget this film was intended to be aimed for kids, not for adults.

While this story plot is just like all the others, kid can do impossible things, it's great for kids who are into action films, but are nowhere near ready to watch such films as Saving Private Ryan. The violence was kept to a minimum, and the comedic value was kept as high as it could be for an appropriate child's film. If you are going to rate this low, you've got some issues, especially if you're watching a child's film when your about 30.

Burt Reynolds has shown a subtle comic flair in films like "Sharky's Machine" and "Shamus" (or even in "Stick"), but his work here, in a broader kind of comedy, is joyless. The kid does show some spirit, but as a "buddy" team these two rarely click. The film was probably supposed, among other things, to satirize the most familiar cop-movie cliches, but it's one big cliche itself, and has a rather erratic tone. (*1/2)