Cop Land (1997)

Written & Directed by James Mangold
Starring Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Robert DeNiro, Ray Liotta, Peter Berg

My Advice: Wait for MST3K.

Well, if you've read my Con Air review you know I declared it the most disappointing movie of 1997.  I'm beginning to rethink that actually.  Talk about a film having a lot going for it--in addition to the cast above you've got Janeane Garofalo, Robert Patrick, and Needcoffee.com fave Michael Rapaport.  So with that kind of cast, what can go wrong?  Um, try the script.  What a slow, boring film.  It makes me wonder what everyone above was thinking when they fell over themselves to get involved.  Don't get me wrong--Stallone's much ballyhooed performance is adequate for what he is, but what his character is is essentially a piece of furniture, simply to be sat upon.  So he decided to drink a bunch of milkshakes and get fat--so what?  Millions of Americans do that daily.  There's nothing to warrant the uproar, he doesn't do anything until he picks up a gun again at the end of the picture.  It's not completely dry acting-wise, but the only stand-out in this stinker is Ray Liotta as one of the good guys, or at least as good as you can get in this film.  Other than that you're left with everyone trying to act their way out of the convoluted plot, rather than a large paper bag.  Chalk it up to Braveheart Syndrome--I just don't get it.