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| "The Mod Squad" Reviewed by Carlos deVillalvilla They should have called this "The Bomb Squad"; it may not have the cachet of the '60s teleseries title, but it does have the advantage of being truthful in advertising.
When Farina shows up dead in the midst of an internal corruption investigation (and consequently acing out the only interesting character in the movie), our three YHCs become prime suspects and must go deep underground to clear themselves and also find the source of the corruption in the police department. Ten bucks says you'll know the answer before the YHCs do. Quite frankly, at this point, Da Queen and I were racing for the rewind button, preferring reruns of "Gilligan's Island" over this tripe. The actors are just too hip and too cool for reality. If this is what kids today aspire to, make me an appointment with Dr. Kervorkian now. Then again, I don't remember anyone adopting the original "Mod Squad" as role models either. A stale plot, bad acting, a weak premise and pretentious direction; all of it adds up to a remake that nobody wants to see. Just slap a soundtrack on it, and the kids will go seems to be the studio's thinking here. Maybe kids have more sense than we think - after all, the movie tanked. Perhaps there is hope for the future. On video: If you must see it, rent it. But don't say we didn't warn you.
DVD at amazon.com. |
Omar Epps, Claire Danes and Giancarlo Ribisi are three Young, Hip Criminals who are recruited by detective Dennis Farina as undercover agents. Well, perhaps "recruited" is too strong a word. More like given a choice between hard time and work. If they'd known what they were getting into, I suspect the young actors would have preferred Death Row - after murdering their agents first.