CHiPs (film): Not great, but has its moments

I suppose you would have to be a bit older to remember the CHiPs show from the late 70's / early 80's TV show with the same name but that is what this show is meant to be based on. However, in reality this movie has almost nothing to do with the original show other than the fact that one of the cops is a white guy and the other is Hispanic.

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CHiPSs is a comedy... a slapstick comedy that attempts to infuse some more intelligent stuff into the storyline but fails for the most part at doing so. While the original show (which was on TV for years) managed to capture the hearts and minds of America, especially kids, this film is well, not very good. Don't get me wrong, I did kind of enjoy it, but for 3 very good reasons.

1. I really liked the original show
2. I think Dax Shepard is one of the most under-appreciated comedic actors of our time
3. I've been in love with Kristen Bell since seeing Forgetting Sarah Marshall

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But let's forget her for a little while. She isn't in very much of the movie anyway.

CHiPs is a film about a couple of motorcycle cops that seem mis-matched at first and don't actually get along but just as you would expect they end up saving the day. One of them is a retired motorcross and stunt bike champion, and the other one is an undercover FBI agent with ulterior motives for being there in the first place.

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This film was almost universally panned because they pretty much didn't use any of the source material about the bond that these two guys had in the original TV show and instead attempted to lowbrow the comedy. In that regard it really seemed as though I was watching Starsky and Hutch but with motorcycles.

The movie quickly devolves into basically just focusing on Dax Shepard (who serves as the only real comedy in the film since Michael Pena's depiction of the iconic "Ponch" was all but humorless.) I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that the focus in the film is almost entirely on Dax Shepard, since he wrote and directed the film.

While I did enjoy certain aspects of this film, I can completely understand why the movie was all but completely panned by critics, because it isn't very good. For me, the most disappointing this about it was the fact that it didn't really have really anything to do with the original aside from sharing the name.

I think the only real reason to watch this movie is to see Dax Shepard's performance and well, to have a look at Kristen Bell (who, by the way, is married to Dax Shepard.) If you enjoy following a timeline of how Michael Pena's head just seems to get bigger and bigger with each passing film, this could be considered a research piece.

Mostly, you can skip this one because as much as it pains me, it's dumb.