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Cop and a Half

PG Released Apr 2, 1993 1h 33m Comedy List
13% Tomatometer 15 Reviews 34% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
Young Devon Butler (Norman D. Golden II) lives with his grandmother, Rachel (Ruby Dee), spending his days obsessing over television cop shows and his aspirations to be an officer of the law. When he witnesses a murder committed by a gang led by Vinnie Fountain (Ray Sharkey), Devon refuses to testify unless he is offered the chance to be a policeman. To humor him, Devon is paired up with fiery cop Nick McKenna (Burt Reynolds) for a day as the two pursue the killers.
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Cop and a Half

Critics Reviews

View All (15) Critics Reviews
Peter Stack San Francisco Chronicle Henry Winkler directed this dreary exercise about a burned-out detective (Burt Reynolds) forced to work with an 8-year-old crime witness who wants to play cop. Rated: 1/4 Jan 11, 2023 Full Review Gene Siskel Chicago Tribune The villains are lame; the stunts are tired, and the dialogue wouldn't work on a network sitcom. Rated: 1/4 Jul 10, 2017 Full Review Louis Black Austin Chronicle Rated: 1/5 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Malcolm Johnson Hartford Courant Becomes a battle of hairpieces. Apr 10, 2018 Full Review Chuck O'Leary FulvueDrive-in.com Burt Reynolds is a lot of fun here in his ornery-guy-with-a-soft-heart mode. Rated: 6/10 Jan 11, 2007 Full Review Michael Szymanski Zap2it.com Rated: 1/5 Sep 21, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Richard E You cannot judge this movie by post-2000 standards. Yes, Burt Reynolds is a little stiff. The script is silly and the villains are terrible. But this is a kid's movie and the kid steals the show. He's great. Back in ‘93, this was a middle of the pack movie with a standout little actor. There are worse ways to spend 90 minutes. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 10/03/23 Full Review Cyrus K You know who should never be near kids, Burt Reynolds. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 12/31/22 Full Review Audience Member It's the funniest Burt Reynolds family comedy ever starring a kid as a cop's half of a partner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review steve d Not a single new idea or moment not stolen from a better film. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Cop and a Half is not good. The actors have a decent dynamic and Henry Winkler is trying his best as a director but this movie is nothing than your generic '90s family comedy about children being placed in an absurd position of power. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review jacob l The "buddy cop" comedies, one of the most overused formulas in modern cinema consisting of an independent non-cooperative cop being forced to partner up and by the end of the film the cop learns the power of teamwork! Now take the cop and pair him up with an elementary school kid and you get one of the most preposterous, unfunny, train wrecks of a movie you will ever see in your entire life called "Cop & 1/2." The plot consists of an 8-year-old boy named Devon Butler (Norman D.Golden II) who dreams of becoming a cop and finally sees his chance to become one after witnessing a murder, and only willing to hand over the information if they make him a cop! And believe it or not, his outrageous demands are granted, as Butler is teamed up with veteran cop Nick McKenna (Burt Reynolds) who of course is rightfully upset with being given an 8-year-old as his partner. Now does any of this seem plausible? The problem with this set-up is that the movie takes place in a real-world scenario, which means even though it's a fictional comedy it still has to abide by the rules of the real world. Now with that said we have a police department who allows a kid to bribe them into putting him on the force with a grown man he has never met as his partner and is allowed to be put in danger just so the police department can get a statement, and apparently his grandmother (his main guardian) sees no problem with this, in fact, she even allows him to stay over at his adult partners house! And even Reynolds character is ok with it! Never in any genre, setting, etc would this ever be allowed to happen! First of all his grandma would be in trouble with child protective services, the police department would be under investigation, and Reynolds would be accused of being a child molester! That's only the problems I had with the plot! I haven't yet mentioned the complete lack of comedy in this film which is probably because the only gag the screenwriters came up with was to have a cop paired up with a school boy. That's right another film revolving around a single gag kind of like Mr. Magoo but without even the slightest bit of humor. The acting is cheesy; the characters are forgettable and unrealistic, and the production value resembles that of a shitty low budget 90's sitcom. But because it's so ridiculous and also because I'm extremely generous, I will give it 1.5/5 stars for its sheer audacity. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Cop and a Half

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Movie Info

Synopsis Young Devon Butler (Norman D. Golden II) lives with his grandmother, Rachel (Ruby Dee), spending his days obsessing over television cop shows and his aspirations to be an officer of the law. When he witnesses a murder committed by a gang led by Vinnie Fountain (Ray Sharkey), Devon refuses to testify unless he is offered the chance to be a policeman. To humor him, Devon is paired up with fiery cop Nick McKenna (Burt Reynolds) for a day as the two pursue the killers.
Director
Henry Winkler
Producer
Paul Maslansky
Distributor
Universal Pictures
Production Co
Imagine Entertainment, Universal Pictures
Rating
PG
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 2, 1993, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 19, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$30.1M
Runtime
1h 33m
Sound Mix
Surround
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