Too much of everything

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Watched it all the time as a kid. And just watched it again as an adult. Devon is an adorable kid.

If all cop/buddy movies were like "Cop and 1/2," the genre would have died years ago. This is a spoof of the formulaic cop/buddy picture with a surprisingly exhausted-looking Burt Reynolds playing a detective teamed up with an unctuous, would-be-suave brat who dreams of wearing a badge. The kid is played by Norman D. Golden II. This is the first and only picture that I have seen him in and judging by this performance, I think he made a wise decision in leaving acting and taking up music for a career. Even if his performance was anything apart from irritation, I think a movie this devoid of fun and laughs would have scared him away.Mr. Reynolds has been a great actor before, but here he looks just as bored and fatigue-stricken as I was watching this unfunny debacle. He has to team up with young Mr. Golden because the latter is a murder witness and he won't share his information unless they let him do what he's always wanted to do: be a cop. So, yeah, you've got the devoid-of-manners, ostentatiously ambitious brat following the grumpy, withheld detective around and a chain of gags and relations that are neither charming nor funny.The movie as a whole is nothing more than over-the-top make-believe buttered with a pretentious, "please-like-me" attitude. You've got lame moments such as the kid having his head dunked into a toilet by a pair of school bullies, the tiresome punch-in-the-groin gag, and a villain played by Ray Sharkey who would rather sing 50s jazz than deal drugs. Here are moments where the movie even tries to live up to the silly mob comedies of the 1930s and 40s. Joe E. Brown must be turning in his grave. And then there is an incredibly lame and all-too-obvious to Stanley Kubrick's "Spartacus" that makes any loyal film historian groan. The picture is also unfunny because it's badly directed and frequently missing key shots so that the would-be jokes are not even fully registered and we have to think a little bit before we catch on to what the writers thought would be funny. The only chuckle from me came when the female police captain walked into the mens' room and nobody took half a notice.The central problem, however, is that there is zero chemistry between Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Golden. The follow-through of their relationship is predictable from the start, the dialogue between them is mechanical. Mr. Golden seems enthusiastic, but I've already touched on my opinion of his acting competence. Mr. Reynolds seems just too tired and bored to put up much of an effort. It's not one of his finest hours."Cop and 1/2" is hokey tedium for adults and I think it's fair to say it would leave younger audience members restless. And then perhaps it's not a movie for little kids to see for it does contain some profanity, violence, and images of drugs. Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Golden are not strong contributors and the supporting performances by Ruby Dee, Ray Sharkey, Holland Taylor, and Frank Sivero are outside their comfort zones. I think everybody was happy when the making of his movie was over. They were probably even happier when it faded into obscurity. Is there anything that works? Hmm...Alan Silvesti's score and that's about it.

This was one of my all time favorite movies as a kid.People seem to forget this film was intended to be aimed for kids, not for adults.While this story plot is just like all the others, kid can do impossible things, it's great for kids who are into action films, but are nowhere near ready to watch such films as Saving Private Ryan. The violence was kept to a minimum, and the comedic value was kept as high as it could be for an appropriate child's film. If you are going to rate this low, you've got some issues, especially if you're watching a child's film when your about 30.

I avoided this movie like the plague for years and years. Then one day I happened to catch a few minutes of it on TV. I became interested enough in it to hunt down a copy of it. Well, it turns out that it's not that bad a movie. Okay, it's not that good, but it's not that bad. During those years when I was avoiding it, I saw dozens of movies that were worse. It's just a silly kids movie, but it's okay.Its strongest asset is its star Norman Golden II. The kid is a natural on screen & he's fun to watch. Unfortunately, Burt plays it too serious at times & his opening scene is very weak. Henry Winkler's direction is too silly at times. It would have been nice if they had built up the story a little more. My guess is that some scenes were cut out of the movie, because they never explain some things & refer to other scenes that we never see. - For instance, they never tell us what happened to Devon's parents. I mean, we can guess that they are dead, but it would have been better to have him talk about it. Also, they talk about one guy getting released early after Burt arrests him, but we never find out why. - They also should have built up Burt & Devon's friendship more...So they cut out some of serious scene & left us with the silliest stuff. Oh well.Even with its weaknesses, I kind of like it in a guilty pleasure kind of way. I mean, even when the movie is bad, it's kind of funny. There are a few ridiculous toupees in the movie (Burt wasn't alone on that one!) and in a couple of scenes Burt wears the sweatiest shirt I ever saw. - And what was up with that Twinky scene? It was like a modern mini-pie fight...I'm not sure exactly why people hate the movie so much. There are worse movies than this every year. There are worse kids movies & Burt has made worse movies, too.