Sep 9, 2005 7:00 am US/Central
The Man
Richard Roeper: "Skip It"
(CBS)
Samuel L. Jackson has been playing the baddest guy in the room since "Pulp Fiction," and Eugene Levy is the classic nebbish. Wouldn't it be a great idea to pair them in a buddy comedy?
Actually, no. It's a terribly obvious idea, and "The Man" is a painfully obvious cop comedy with Jackson playing a cop on the edge--yep, there's a scene where the lieutenant tells him to hand over his gun and badge--and Levy as a dental supplies salesman from Wisconsin.
Five writers labored to put together a wobbly screenplay that has Jackson and Levy careening all over Detroit as they try to set up a buy from a gun-runner who has murdered Jackson's partner. It's a similar set-up to "Midnight Run" and "Analyze This"--but not nearly as clever or plausible.
The best thing I can say about "The Man" is that it's only 84 minutes long, so if you make the mistake of seeing it you can go see a better movie the same day.
Rated PG-13, "The Man" has a few chuckles but it's the kind of movie you could watch on an airplane without bothering to put on the headphones--and you'd still know what's happening. Skip It!
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