I was recently in Nova Scotia, where I got to see
Bon Cop, Bad Cop, a bilingual, hockey-themed cop buddy movie that's probably not coming to a U.S. theatre near you any time soon. It stars
Patrick Huard and
Colm Feore as detectives from Montreal and Toronto, respectively. When a body turns up draped over the WELCOME TO ONTARIO / BIENVENUE A QUEBEC sign beside the highway, this odd couple is jointly assigned to the case.
As you can guess, they don't instantly take to each other. One's an anglophone; the other's a francophone! One's a straight-laced, by-the-book type; the other's a loose cannon with unorthodox methods! One dresses neatly; the other is kind of a slob!
The film's very title cleverly lets you know what you're in for: an otherwise formulaic script with a uniquely Canadian slant. You've seen this movie dozens of times before, it says, but never with a French-Canadian twist, which, winningly applied here, somewhat redeems an otherwise shopworn set of cliches. A scene in which Huard gives Feore lessons in Quebecois profanity, for instance, is pretty funny.
What Just Wide readers will like best, though, is the hockey satire angle. The murder on the provincial border proves to be the first in a string of killings targeting agents and owners who've sold Canadian teams and players south of the border. No real names or NHL logos are used, but audiences will still know who the concussion-prone number 88 is supposed to be, to give one example.
The broadest caracature is that of league commisioner "Harry Buttman," played here by a dwarf.
On a hockey movie rating scale — from zero to ten stars, where
MVP: Most Valuable Primate is a zero and
Slap Shot is a ten — I give
Bon Cop, Bad Cop seven stars. Rent it if and when it comes out in the States, and watch it on a summer night before the season starts.