I can't understand the praise from critics for 'Cop Car' (82% on RottenTomatoes), but I can understand why this film flopped at the box office.
The film sees kids Travis and Harrison taking a cop car for a joyride when they find it abandoned. The car belongs to rogue cop Sheriff Kretzer (Kevin Bacon) who just hours before pulled a body from the trunk, leaving another body in the trunk. While the kids are having fun playing in the car, they are oblivious to the body in the trunk.
Meantime, Sheriff Kretzer tries everything to get his car back. Uhm, yawn already. Nothing about this film is plausible. Lets start with the kids. None of them have ever driven a car. I mean they don't even know which key to start the car with, but they soon find out how the pedals and the gears work. They drive with incredible ease, and these kids even manage to drive at HIGH SPEED at night WITHOUT ANY LIGHTS, and successfully swerve for a cow in the road - never losing control of the vehicle!!! Hell, even experienced drivers will lose control given the circumstances, but I'm supposed to believe these kids - who have never driven before - can do this!!?? Oh, crap... Why didn't they just write about kids who could drive?
Then there's characterization. We know nothing about Sheriff Kretzer, apart from the fact he is corrupt, and he killed a guy, with another in the trunk. We have no idea what he has done, and why. That brings me to the surviving victim. What was his quarrel with Kretzer? Why was he beaten and why was his brother killed? Until the end I still didn't know whether I was supposed to root for this guy or not. Was he a good guy, or a bad guy who deserved his fate? The kids also had no back story, so again I knew nothing about them. As a result, I didn't root for anyone.
For a film with a runtime of only 88 minutes, it is also very slow paced, and not even all that interesting. Quite boring, actually. The film is laded with plot flaws from beginning to end. Forgettable.
Would I watch it again? No.
The film sees kids Travis and Harrison taking a cop car for a joyride when they find it abandoned. The car belongs to rogue cop Sheriff Kretzer (Kevin Bacon) who just hours before pulled a body from the trunk, leaving another body in the trunk. While the kids are having fun playing in the car, they are oblivious to the body in the trunk.
Meantime, Sheriff Kretzer tries everything to get his car back. Uhm, yawn already. Nothing about this film is plausible. Lets start with the kids. None of them have ever driven a car. I mean they don't even know which key to start the car with, but they soon find out how the pedals and the gears work. They drive with incredible ease, and these kids even manage to drive at HIGH SPEED at night WITHOUT ANY LIGHTS, and successfully swerve for a cow in the road - never losing control of the vehicle!!! Hell, even experienced drivers will lose control given the circumstances, but I'm supposed to believe these kids - who have never driven before - can do this!!?? Oh, crap... Why didn't they just write about kids who could drive?
Then there's characterization. We know nothing about Sheriff Kretzer, apart from the fact he is corrupt, and he killed a guy, with another in the trunk. We have no idea what he has done, and why. That brings me to the surviving victim. What was his quarrel with Kretzer? Why was he beaten and why was his brother killed? Until the end I still didn't know whether I was supposed to root for this guy or not. Was he a good guy, or a bad guy who deserved his fate? The kids also had no back story, so again I knew nothing about them. As a result, I didn't root for anyone.
For a film with a runtime of only 88 minutes, it is also very slow paced, and not even all that interesting. Quite boring, actually. The film is laded with plot flaws from beginning to end. Forgettable.
Would I watch it again? No.