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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Cop Land
Miramax Films
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for violence, strong language and brief nudity
Starring
Sylvester Stallone,
Harvey Keitel,
Ray Liotta,
Robert De Niro,
Peter Berg,
Janeane Garofalo,
Robert Patrick,
and
Michael Rapaport
Sylvester Stallone stars as Freddy Heflin, the sheriff of a place everyone calls "Cop Land" -- a small and seemingly peaceful town populated by the big city police officers he's long admired. Yet something ugly is taking place behind the town's peaceful facade. And when Freddy uncovers a massive, deadly conspiracy among these local residents, he is forced to take action -- and make a dangerous choice between protecting his idols and upholding the law. (Buena Vista Entertainment)
| GENRE(S): |
Crime
|
Drama
|
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
James Mangold
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
James Mangold
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: June 1, 2004
Video: May 6, 2003
Theatrical: August 15, 1997
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
104 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
90
The New York Times
Elvis Mitchell
Everywhere the camera turns in this tense and volatile drama, it finds enough interest for a truckload of conventional Hollywood fare. Whatever its limitations, Cop Land has talent to burn.
89
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
Casting is everything, and the casting of Stallone -- playing way against type -- as the powerless hayseed sheriff in Cop Land is nothing short of inspired.
80
Chicago Reader
Lisa Alspector
The movie's no roller-coaster ride, but there isn't a boring moment either.
80
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Keith Phipps
Cop Land emerges as a first-rate morality play in the form of an effective, if occasionally unwieldy, crime drama.
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
Cop Land isn't a perfect piece, but it's sober, wise and adult.
75
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
While this is probably the actor's best turn since Rocky, and he does a credible job that may earn him the opportunity to do more "serious" work in the future, Stallone's performance is outshone on all sides. That's not a knock against him; it's an acknowledgment that the supporting cast is about the best that it can be.
75
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Branching out in a bold new direction, Stallone is quietly devastating. James Mangold has directed Cop Land from his own ardent, audacious script, and despite some draggy, overdeliberate moments, it's the strongest piece of material to come Stallone's way since he invented himself as Rocky 21 years ago.
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
A good film prevented from being a great film by an act of well-intentioned but misguided casting.
75
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
James Mangold follows up the promise of his excellent "Heavy" with this smartly written, superbly acted melodrama.
70
Variety
Todd McCarthy
The increasingly broad strokes with which the story is painted serve to simplify rather than deepen it, and to make it seem more artificially constructed than need be.
70
Slate
David Edelstein
It's formulaic, but it sticks to a classic Western formula instead of a cartoonish blockbuster one.
67
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
Dense, meandering, ambitious yet jarringly pulpy, this tale of big-city corruption in small-town America has competence without mood or power -- a design but not a vision.
60
Empire
Ian Freer
An honourable attempt to return the mainstream thriller to a more serious, intelligent vein, yet ultimately lacks the complexity of characterisation, dense subterfuge and overall feeling of weightiness that separates the great from the good.
60
TV Guide
Sandra Contreras
Writer-director James Mangold has surrounded Stallone with an exceptional ensemble cast, and Sly is smart enough to let the actors do the acting.
60
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
Unfortunately, while Stallone can carry the weight, the movie can't. Too much of it is too busy -- too many undeveloped subplots -- and some of the main plotting feels murky.
50
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The characters are all over the map, there are too many unclear story threads, our sympathies are confused, and there's an unconvincing showdown in which the story's lovingly developed ambiguities are lost.
50
Newsweek
Jack Kroll
Mangold is something of a pseudo-Scorsese, assembling elements of other pictures like "Internal Affairs" and "Bad Lieutenant" into an eclectic mix that lacks its own vital reality.
50
San Francisco Examiner
Barbara Shulgasser
Cop Land presents a fairly involved plot, and Mangold is not equipped to do more than blurt all the information onto the screen and let the nuances settle where they may.
40
Dallas Observer
Peter Rainer
Mangold never ventures beyond the obvious. We're set up with righteous anger against the liberal establishment and then fobbed off with goombah melodramatics. The film should be called Cop Out.
40
Washington Post
Rita Kempley
Although the newly paunchy Stallone is credible as a weak, conflicted small-time sheriff, this suburban "Serpico" is a noble, passionless charade.
30
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
It's a shame when an actor like Sylvester Stallone, who's always at his most appealing when he just hunkers down and lets himself be a big galoot, feels he has to make a bid for respectability.
 The average user rating for this movie is 7.1 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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