★☆
The ’70s and ’80s hit police TV show Chips has been remade, because apparently, no matter how unwarranted, everything from that era must be rebooted in the 21st century.
Dax Shepard – who felt the need to direct, write and act – and Michael Peña star as two highway patrolmen. Working undercover for the FBI, sex addict Ponch (Peña) pairs with the emotionally unstable Jon (Shepard) to tear up California in motorbikes with flagrant disregard for any civilian casualties. Their mission is to follow a corrupt policeman’s dirty trail of dead bodies, without maintaining any real compliance with police procedure.
Basically, the whole thing feels like watching one of your stoned mates play GTA for two hours. There’s no real story, the characters outside of the main pair are two-dimensional, and even with its high-production-value action sequences, it often feels like a B-movie. Perhaps most alarming, though, is Shepard’s insistence on not giving a flying fuck about the plot.
If you care to notice – many people won’t – you’ll find plot holes galore, as almost every character makes yet one nonsensical decisions after another. It seems like there are a few key scenes missing that Shepard just couldn’t be bothered writing in – as if plot was just an annoying chore he had to endure to get to his next low-brow analingus moment.
I am half ashamed to confess I actually did chuckle at a couple of moments. The bickering back and forth between Shepherd and Peña keeps you from checking your watch too often. But there are heaps of unnecessary cameos, and Kristen Bell stands out in a bad way – this is not really the type of film I would have thought someone with her intellectual and political background would want to be seen in.
Chips will probably fall flat even with its target audience – 21 Jump Street has a much better grasp on flow and connection of comedy and story. With so many more interesting films coming out – why bother with Chips?
Pros
Someone with a selfie stick gets run over.
There are only a couple of homophobic gags. Kudos to Dax for resisting the urge.
Cons
104 minutes long.
Exploitation of women for pure sexual characteristics – aren’t we past this?
A ‘joke’ is made over Reeva Steenkamp’s murder.
Dax Shepherd looks way too much like Zach Braff and I’m concerned it’ll ruin Scrubs for me.
‘California Love’ plays over the end credits. Don’t do that. You didn’t earn it.
Chipsis in cinemas now.
