First Look: Kevin Smith’s ‘A Couple of Dicks’

Mallrats, Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma, blah, blah, blah. Yet there’s a dark little place in my heart that secretly loves Jersey Girl.  There, I said it. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I am intrigued (and a little tickled) by the prospect of the new Kevin Smith film, A Couple of Dicks.

I hesitate to prematurely pass judgment on the film based merely on its pedigree, but given Smith’s track record, and the cast of Dicks, February of 2010 has more to look forward to than Martin Luther King, groundhogs, and chocolate hearts.

ComingSoon has revealed the latest photos from A Couple of Dicks, which currently filming in Brooklyn.  These new production pictures feature the film’s stars, Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, as well as one of the newest additions to the cast,  Michelle Trachtenberg (Harriet the Spy,  Eurotrip).  Also featured in the movie are Jason Lee, Kevin Pollack, Sean William Scott, Adam Brody and comedian Jim Norton. Smith has been slated to direct the film, though unlike previous projects he is not the writer; that credit goes to Heist creators (and brothers) Mark and Robb Cullen.

This movie really takes Willis outside his comfort zone as an actor and gives him a real challenge (sarcasm alert!).  He’ll be playing a cop forced to battle with gangsters and money launderers, while searching for a Mexican beauty and a stolen baseball card. Testing his acting chops right along side Willis, Morgan plays his partner in crime-fighting, and reprises a role he is familiar with – the comic relief:

Click on either image for a hi res version

.

.

Head to Coming Soon for a full gallery of pics.

Kevin Smith is no stranger to actors portraying similar characters across multiple films. Those of us that made it through the 90s unscathed remember a few great things that came out of an otherwise mundane decade: Monica Lewinsky, Dolly the sheep, Dolly the sheep, the death of Princess Diana, and the slow, welcome, demise of the mullet. But the Hyper-Color decade wasn’t all bad.  We got introduced to Jay, Silent Bob, Jason Lee, and various characters that all got reprised movie after movie.

Not only that, but Smith gave us Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Alanis Morissette as God! So he should have no problem with Willis being cast as his usual brooding and cynical cop/terrorist/ghost/hero character, or Tracy Morgan as, well, Tracy Morgan. This is also yet another shot at the comedy target for Willis – a bull’s eye he’s been failing trying to hit for some time now.  But watching Bruce Willis in comedies has always been a bit like being screwed in a very uncomfortable place (like the back seat of a Volkswagen?): you’re not happy it’s happening, and when it’s over, you’re left with bad taste in your mouth…or so I’ve heard.

Given its cast of characters and its director, it shouldn’t be too difficult for A Couple of Dicks to hit its mark.  However, come February 2010, don’t be surprised if you don’t see the actual words “A Couple of Dicks” up on the marquee; if Warner Bros. has its way, the film’s title might be overhauled with prudish sensibilities to something closer to “A Couple of Cops”.  When asked about the title change, Filmdrunk reports Smith told friends “It’s like there’s a hole in my heart where some dicks used to be.”

A Couple of (Dicks? Cops?) is set for release on February 26, 2010.

Sources: Slash Film, Coming Soon & Film Drunk

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or if you want more frequent updates follow us on Twitter. Thanks for visiting!