I saw it. And guess what? It's not as bad as you'd think. Okay, maybe it is. I'm going to list the major problems I had, and get them out of the way.

1. It's a buddy comedy. A traditional buddy cop comedy. Naive Eugene Levy (does he play naive-to-the-entire-world like no other, or what?) gets himself mistakenly into some bad business with tough cop Samuel L. Jackson (plays his usual self, which isn't a bad thing, especially when most of it is done for laughs). There's nothing new to the buddy comedy. The lame, unsuspecting white guy tries his darndest not to mess up, and he also tries to give some help to Jackson (with his family, more or less). This leads into...

2. ... how clichéd much of the film is. It's all here. If you've seen a buddy cop film before, you've seen this one.

3. The ending is implausible. I won't give it away, but let's just say for most of the film, the bad guys are FAR too lenient with Eugene Levy's character, especially at the end.

4. Fart jokes. My god, you KNOW it's going to be rough if there's fart jokes. And a few of them at that.

5. Horatio Sanz. In fact, Horatio Sanz and fart jokes in the same movie should automatically result in an F, but I'll be lenient, just like the idiot bad guys in this movie.

Basically, Roger Ebert said it best when he said that if you've seen the trailer, you've seen the movie. When MovieDude said that about Red Eye, it didn't take away from the fact that I enjoyed Red Eye. And while The Man is no masterpiece, it isn't any garbage either.

Much like this year's Man of the House (Tommy Lee Jones starred in it), I like The Man enough to recommend it, on the grounds that you remember that this film is entirely unnecessary, but it's been made and released anyhow, so why not laugh when there's something to laugh at? Jackson and Levy have good chemistry, and provide some great chuckles throughout the film. It's just a fun little ride, with an 80 minute runtime. Again, it's not original at all, and not needed at all, but if you want to kill time, get a few laughs, then see it. Rent it when it comes out, if you don't want to waste the money completely. It's harmless fun, and I mean it.

Grade: B/B-

On a side note, I believe there's a subtle reference to Pulp Fiction in the film, when Jackson suggests Levy get a burger to cure his hunger. When Levy initially declines, Jackson pushes, claiming it's a "tasty burger". If you know Pulp Fiction, you know what scene I'm talking about. It could be a coincidence... but when was the last time there was a coincidence in Hollywood?

Hehe, I just saw it coming. Whenever there is a movie that no one sees and it gets no comments in this thread, after a while I know almost for sure the first person to comment will be Joey. ; )

Heh. You can count on me to test a movie out. Seriously, it's not as bad as anyone would think.

When it's not stupid, it can be a little funny.

Just a little, though.

C+

Excessively cliched buddy cop comedy. Levy plays a dental equipment salesman who finds himself unwittingly involved in a crime caper having to do with a firearm. Jackson is the cop undercover with the aforementioned deal who is forced to drag Levy along to keep up appearances with the criminals he's trying to nab. The resulting film is sporadically funny (emphasis on sporadically). It provides a few laughs but nothing you couldn't get from an episode of The Simpsons or any of the better sitcoms. Maybe worth a rental but definitely not worth a purchase.

Grade: C

It's nowhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be. I actually found it to be quite enjoyable, and to my surprise, Jackson and Levy did have somewhat of a chemistry. Of course it's a generic, cliched buddy-cop movie, but it's not a bad one at all. It's a surprisingly good one.

B

B-


The movie is nowhere as bad as reviews and general consensus made it seem. Eugene Levy and Samuel L. Jackson have great chemistry and the humorous timing is mostly right on. Certainly, we do get some fart jokes...more than it is appropriate actually, but I could survive that. I must admit that I actually laughed more throughout the movie that I ever imagined. Certainly, it's no Wedding Crashers or The 40-Year-Old Virgin, but it is fairly amusing on its own and the short running time helps that the movie never drags.

Samuel L. Jackson is simply at his best here. He does what he usually does best, playing his own self cool. Eugene Levy is quite funny, even though he plays his stereotypical naive white guy role for the tenth time here. They do make a more fitting buddy pairing than I have seen in several similar movies recently.

The story is nothing to speak about at all. It has zero depth and can be summed up on the wrapping paper of a bubblegum. But this is exactly how the film was meant to be. It doesn't really pretend to be more than it is. It is just light entertainment.

Not all of the jokes work and I did feel that it lacked some action for this kind of a movie, but Jackson and Levy made it worthwhile to me. I have watched it twice already and wasn't bored yet, at all.

C+

It was fairly enjoyable, with a few laughs along the way, but it does suffer from the "Seen it soooooo many times before" syndrome. Nothing great, but still a bit above average.

Don't know why, but this is for some reason very rewatchable to me. Seen it four times already (with different friends each time)