Starring:
Claire Danes, Omar Epps, Giovanni Ribisi, Dennis Farina, Michael
Lerner Directed by: Scott Silver Written by: Tony Ludwig and
Ben Myron
I
must confess that I've never been a fan of the original television
series "The Mod Squad." I do not know much about it. But that's
a rather moot point, seeing as though the filmmakers are quite
aware of the fact that most of their target audience won't
have the slightest idea what The Mod Squad is. We know this
because at the very beginning, we are treated to a textbook
definition of both the words "mod" and "squad". (Although
I don't know how necessary it was to include "squad" in there.)
Immediately
after that, we get a first hand look at each member of The
Mod Squad along with a voice-over description of their respective
backgrounds. They are Julie Barnes (Claire Danes), Lincoln
Hayes (Omar Epps), and Pete Cochrane (Giovanni Ribisi). All
three were brought on board the police department by Lt. Adam
Greer (Dennis Farina). His idea is to have the kids work undercover,
blending in to the seedy Los Angeles night life, thereby assisting
in drug busts, prostitution arrests, and so on.
There's
trouble in the department. Some drugs were stolen from the
police evidence lock-up, and naturally the other cops assume
it's Greer's bunch. When one of the officers is killed, the
heat really gets turned up, and the Mod Squad must break free
from the department to solve the case on their own.
Of
course, the movie is quite shallow and rather empty, which
didn't surprise nor bother me. (From what I understand, the
television show was equally shallow and empty.) What did surprise
me was how shockingly slow and boring it is. I don't know
how faithful this film adaptation is, but if it was this dull
on television, I'm truly surprised the show made it beyond
the pilot.
Also,
director Scott ("johns") Silver isn't sure if he wants to
update the movie for today's audiences or not. He sort of
straddles the issue - it takes place in the present, but the
set design in numerous scenes has a seventies feel to it;
and the musical score is taken right out of the seventies.
Not committing to a consistent style from which the story
filters indicates the lack of consideration as to what audience
this movie is intended for. As a result, this is a film that
doesn't play to any particular audience.
The
movie is chock full of terrific young actors, but they have
all done better work - Claire Danes in "Little Women" and
"William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet", Omar Epps in "Higher
Learning", Giovanni Ribisi in "Saving Private Ryan" - and
seem too sensible to be playing these roles. Maybe unknown
actors might have worked better.
The
script was by Stephen Kay, Kate Lanier, and Silver, although
I'm willing to bet the idea to remake "The Mod Squad" into
a feature film came from a studio exec who perhaps remembered
seeing part of an episode and thought "Yeah, today's youth
could probably relate to something like that." That's the
way the movie feels - half-baked, rushed, and not well thought
out.
Copyright
2001 Michael Brendan McLarney Critically
Ill
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