Space Cop is the new feature length sci-fi comedy from the folks at Redlettermedia, starring Rich Evans in the title role as a cop from the future, of space, who finds himself stranded on Earth of his past and our present where he is partnered with an unfrozen police detective from the past, played by the one and only Mike Stoklasa of The Phantom Menace review fame. Together they must save the world from a mad scientist and misguided aliens. As a film, Space Cop has it's charms. In particular Rich Evans brings an amiable stoic quality to his lead role, which I found important because unless you can at least cheer for Space Cop to succeed, you can look over some of the film's lesser moments, which I will touch upon in a moment. Mike Stoklasa has natural charisma and presence that lights up the film whenever he appears and his pairing with his friend Rich Evans works very well because they have known each other since they were kids and thus have a natural short hand that works well when we see them act together. Jay Bauman gives a pretty good non comedic turn in the film. He is fun to watch as well and those familiar with Redlettermedia's brand of comedic schlock will recognize many of the faces from their programs on their YouTube channel like Half In The Bag and Best Of The Worst.
The screenplay by Bauman and Stoklasa, who also co-produced and directed the film, has some humorous moments, but after some funny bits particularly in the beginning of the film as well as a great cameo by Patton Oswalt, who steals the scene he is in, the film starts to lag a bit because not all of the jokes work as well as intended. There are some great effects particularly with Space Cop's flying car and some of the miniature effects and production design for the interior of the alien space ship looked pretty good too, but despite their ambition, they simply did not have the budget to bring it all together quality wise and in that respect one wonders why did they just drop those uneven moments from the film completely because they cheapen the film too much for me to believe this is what they wanted.
For two filmmakers who have at times mercilessly made fun of first run features on their show Half In The Bag and then behave like if you disagree with them then you are just a dumb mindless consumer, I expected a better film from them. Space Cop is uneven and ultimately runs out of steam.
I believe Mike and Jay are talented filmmakers in their own right and I think they are selling themselves short with a film like Space Cop. Even one who loves Redlettermedia's programming on YouTube would be hard pressed to truly say beyond the shadow of a doubt that Space Cop is a great film. Especially for independent filmmakers, comedies are the riskiest films to get produced because no one wants to see an unfunny comedy, but there is always a market for bad horror films.
What may be funny in a half hour program grows dull fast in an hour and forty minutes. So now I think these guys need to think hard on their next project because if they keep making mediocre films like Space Cop, only their core audience will be the ones who will watch their films and their film reviews on YouTube will become increasingly pointless to watch when the films they make fun of are better than the ones they produce. Thus I would only recommend this to Redlettermedia fans and even then I would suggest that if one has to see it, try seeing it as a rental because I don't think I could sit through this film again and I definitely am glad I did not buy it. Space Cop is available for sale on Blu-Ray Disc and digital download direct from Redlettermedia. Information on obtaining a copy can be found on their website www.redlettermedia.com.
(C) Copyright 2016 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
