Review by CJ

Director:
Robert Schwentke

Starring:
Ryan Reynolds, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Bacon, Mary-Louise Parker

Other notable appearances:
Mike O’Malley, Larry Joe Campbell

Running time:
96 minutes

Watch this if you liked:
Men in Black, Ghostbusters, The Frighteners

Nick Walker is a cop who has had a pretty rough day. He has struggled with his conscience over stealing gold from a drug bust; been shot in the face by his dirty cop partner; and been given the choice of Hell or a 100 year stint in the R.I.P.D.

Nick chooses the latter – it would have been a short and very boring film otherwise – and is partnered with veteran R.I.P.D. officer Roycephus Pulsipher. Their mission is to round up the souls of those who didn’t ascend and bring them in for judgement.

In the line of duty, the deceased dynamic duo uncover a plot to bring about an apocalypse that will destroy the living world. It falls to Nick and Roy to stop the people responsible for the plot and not kill each other in the process.

R.I.P.D. is a wickedly funny film with plenty of action and explosions.

Jeff Bridges is a great actor. Kevin Bacon is outstanding in almost everything he does. Ryan Reynolds has fantastic comedic timing. The main performances were all well cast and the big three all performed admirably.

I haven’t seen Mary-Louise Parker in anything except the odd snippet of Weeds that I flipped past. Parker doesn’t have many scenes in R.I.P.D. but the ones in which she does appear, the screen is hers and she owns it.

The story is a supernatural buddy cop setup and, as a fan of both genres, I was delighted by just how well it worked. It reminded me very much of Men in Black. The grouchy veteran who has a hard time opening up to the new “rookie”. It’s comedy gold in its simplest form.

R.I.P.D. is definitely one of my new favourite comedy movies. If you like buddy cop films, action movies, or dark comedies then you should settle in for an hour and a half to give R.I.P.D. a chance.

Rating: 5/5