Cop Car (film)
Cop Car is a 2015 American thriller black comedy crime film co-written and directed by Jon Watts and starring Kevin Bacon, Shea Whigham, Camryn Manheim, James Freedson-Jackson and Hays Wellford. The film follows two young boys and juvenile delinquents who come across and hijack the abandoned police car of a corrupt sheriff. It premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and was released in the United States on August 7, 2015 by Focus World. The film received mainly positive reviews from critics but was not commercially successful, earning $143,000 on a $5 million budget.
| Cop Car | |
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| Directed by | Jon Watts |
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| Written by |
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| Music by | Phil Mossman |
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| Distributed by | Focus World |
Release date |
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Running time | 88 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $5 million[2] |
| Box office | $143,658[2] |
Plot
Two young boys and fellow juvenile delinquents, Travis and Harrison, having run away from home, come across an apparently abandoned cop car. Finding the key, they hijack the vehicle and go on a joyride.
The next scene takes place earlier: After removing his uniform's shirt and leaving his handgun in the back seat of his police car, Sheriff Kretzer (Kevin Bacon) removes a body from the trunk of his police car, drags it to a covered pit in the woods, and drops the corpse into the pit, pouring a bag of quicklime on it. When he returns to the site at which he'd left his police car, the vehicle is gone, and he calls the dispatcher, telling her that his radio is down, but he can be reached on his cell phone.
Meanwhile, the boys speed down the wrong lane, narrowly missing a woman driving in the oncoming lane.
At a trailer park, Kretzer steals a car, but, after avoiding arrest, he abandons it, replacing it with his own pickup truck, when he arrives home. His dispatcher informs him of a report of a stolen sheriff's car driven by two boys under age 10. He orders her to ignore the report and has her tell his deputies to switch their radios to a different channel, before he uses the regular channel to call the boys, but they do not answer. They are in a nearby field, playing with Kretzer's weapons and gear, which they found in the back seat.
The boys hear thumping from the car's trunk and open it to see a man covered in blood, his arms and legs restrained in the same manner as were those of the corpse. He pleads with the boys to help him, claiming that the sheriff is the "bad guy".
At home, Kretzer dumps bags of cocaine into his toilet and packs a bag of cash. He hears a voice on the radio and runs out to talk to Harrison, to find out where the boys are.
The man from the trunk has locked the boys in the back seat of the cop car. He threatens the boys' families, telling the boys not to tell the man who owns the car where he is hiding and then takes cover near a windmill. Kretzer arrives and sees the open front door of the cop car, sensing that something is not right, and ducks behind the car.
The woman whose car the boys almost hit earlier shows up and walks towards the car, screaming at the boys. She sees Kretzer, who claims to be injured, and asks her to look for his keys (in the direction where he suspects the man is hiding). The woman spots the man from the trunk and points at him, screaming. The man shoots the woman, prompting a gunfight with Kretzer. The sheriff and the man from the trunk shoot each other.
The boys escape the car by shooting out the window. Travis is hit by one of the ricochets. With night falling and not knowing how to turn on the vehicle's headlights, Harrison continues to speed down the road, with Travis in the back seat.
The sheriff regains consciousness and enters his truck. He taunts the boys on the radio while chasing them and tries to run them off the road. Harrison sees a cow and swerves to avoid it, but the sheriff drives straight into it, which ends the chase.
As Harrison speeds onward with Travis, the lights of a town appear on the horizon. The dispatcher attempts to raise the sheriff over the radio. Harrison replies, "Hello".
Cast
- Kevin Bacon as Sheriff Kretzer
- James Freedson-Jackson as Travis
- Hays Wellford as Harrison
- Camryn Manheim as Bev
- Shea Whigham as Man
- Sean Hartley as Motorcycle Cop
- Kyra Sedgwick as Dispatcher
- Loi Nguyen as Waiter
- Sit Lenh as Hostess
- Chuck Kull as Officer #1
- Thomas Coates as Officer #2
- Kathleen Bentley as Trailer Park Lady
- Justin Barr as Guy in Trailer Park
- Adam Barr as Drunk at Intersection
- Lily & Cooter Heber as Dogs
- Bluebell as Herself
Release
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2015.[3] The film was released in theaters on August 7, 2015 by Focus World, which acquired distribution rights to the film on January 28, 2015.[4][5]
Reception
Cop Car received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 80% based on 86 reviews, with an average rating of 7.06/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Cop Car boasts a terrific premise and a grimly gripping opening act -- and for some viewers, that will be enough to compensate for the movie's uneven denouement."[6] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 66 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[7]
Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post gave the film two out of four stars, saying, "Cop Car builds up a nice, suspenseful head of steam, mixing dark comedy and true creepiness in such a way that one mood never overwhelms the other."[8] Bill Goodykoontz of The Arizona Republic gave the film three and a half stars out of five, saying, "Bacon can play just about anything, and he's having a good time here as a guy not quite smart enough to keep himself out of trouble, but wily enough to try to dig himself out of it. It's fun to watch."[9] Bruce Demara of the Toronto Star gave the film three out of four stars, saying, "Anchored by solid performances and a taut script, Cop Car is a tension-filled thrill ride."[10] Brian Moylan of The Guardian gave the film four out of five stars, saying, "The movie culminates in a tense, protracted standoff that keeps the audience on edge for way longer than is comfortable. I mean that as a compliment."[11] Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a negative review, saying, "A potentially fun premise soon turns into no fun at all in Cop Car, a seriously imagination-challenged low-end action thriller."[12] Peter Debruge of Variety gave the film a positive review, saying, "Watts demonstrates masterful control, pushing right up against the limits of what we can take (even non-parents will be rattled watching the boys mishandling loaded weapons), and yet, at every turn, the screenplay falls short of the picture's full potential, missing opportunities that could have made this a classic."[1]
Accolades
| Award | Category | Subject | Result |
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| Deauville American Film Festival | Grand Special Prize | Jon Watts | Nominated |
| Edinburgh International Film Festival | Audience Award | Nominated | |
| NBR Award | Top Ten Independent Films | Cop Car | Won |
| Saturn Awards | Best Independent Film | Nominated | |
| Best Performance by a Younger Actor | James Freedson-Jackson | Nominated | |
References
- Debruge, Peter (January 31, 2015). "'Cop Car' Film Review: A Wicked Kevin Bacon Wants His Wheels Back". Variety. Retrieved August 29, 2015.
- "Cop Car (2015)". The Numbers. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
- "Sundance red carpet photos: Kevin Bacon's 'Cop Car' premieres in Park City at Midnight". The Salt Lake Tribune. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2015.
- Kit, Borys (January 28, 2015). "Sundance: Focus World Picks Up 'Cop Car' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
- "The Trailer for Cop Car, Starring Kevin Bacon". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
- "Cop Car (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
- "Cop Car Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
- O'Sullivan, Michael (December 14, 2012). "Review: 'Cop Car' takes viewers on a suspenseful ride into genre territory". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 29, 2015.
- Goodykoontz, Bill (August 13, 2015). "Review: Kevin Bacon helps keep 'Cop Car' from stalling". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved August 29, 2015.
- Demara, Bruce (March 16, 2015). "Reel Brief: Mini reviews of Backcountry, Turbo Kid, Court, Cop Car, Learning to Drive". Toronto Star. Retrieved August 29, 2015.
- Moylan, Brian. "Sundance 2015 review – Cop Car: Kevin Bacon in a minimalist joyride out of childhood". The Guardian. Retrieved August 29, 2015.
- McCarthy, Todd (January 28, 2015). "'Cop Car': Sundance Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 29, 2015.