The Mod Squad

If the writers of a movie don't care about the characters inhabiting the world they create, nor the actors portraying them, or the director ostensibly creating a dynamic, well it doesn't seem realistic the audience will care either.

To call this movie slapdash is an undeserved compliment--it's likely they figured it was a lost cause and that no amount of work would improve it. That's probably true.

Omar Epps isn't a very good actor to begin with, but here he's even worse than usual, mumbling his lines without a clue as to what is going on in the movie. Giovanni Rabisi seems to have fun with his role, but playing one imbecile after another, one gets the feeling he may not be so much acting as giving a glimmer as to his real personality. Claire Danes obviously can act, as she showed in "Little Women", but here she's dreadful. Dennis Farina is good in just about anything, but here he's given absolutely no help by the director or the other actors.

The movie quickly devolves into a series of music videos with bad seventies music intermixed with more modern stuff. And this squad is not very mod--the opening sequence notes that mod means fashionably dressed, and these guys look like they've been shopping by picking up things strewn on the side of an interstate. Go elsewhere for entertainment.

This has to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen. With very little plot, poor acting (some exceptions), and terrible lighting, we are subjected to an extremely bad imitation of the old television series. No explanation, other than a few headlines, gives us any idea how or why these dolts were elected to be the new mod squad. Claire Danes is okay, as is Omar Epps. Giovanni Ribisi, however, doesn't know (or was not directed to know) if his character is a buffoon or a seriously troubled young man. The long pauses and takes on faces failed to engage me--they were merely irritating. This movie sometimes appeared to be a parody; at other times it took itself too seriously. Some bad lighting caused Claire Danes to have a flickering nose in one scene. The ending was ludicrous. Don't waste your money.

I was extremely disappointed with Mod Squad as a movie. There were a number of points which were never explored fully in respect to the character development. The script jumped from point to point without ever clearly explaining the real direction of the plot or the characters. Neither I nor the three people with me ranging from 18 to 85, could work out why the three young 'Mod Squad' members were recruited. We had no idea what they'd done to land themselves in hot water to begin with so they could have been murderers (no sympathy there). The action was minimal the highlight being an old car crashing through a metal door. "When was that film set?" my eighteen year old daughter asked me. The clever young actor from the "Other Sister" relied on the most basic of performance tricks such as shouting, to even be noticed. Long lingering shots of the female lead became dull. The young black actor had little to work on in his scripted characterisation. I found myself confused between the good and the bad cops and why a call to the police precinct, which had set up the criminal "bust" finale , was so obligingly received and acted on so promptly. The police were called to the scene as backup for our hero who was then an escaped felon (or was he????). The direction in my opinion was experimental to the point of distraction. One scene had our three protagonists in the front seat of a car plotting their next move. This was the bench mark. We saw the camera pan left, right, right, left, right, left then left again so continuously I became dizzy. The recording quality of the hand held reporters cassette recorder, the contents of which wrapped up the entire Mod Squad case was "studio quality" amazing!!! I see a minimum of sixty films a year. This was one of the least effective in a decade. my vote is 2 out of 10.

So many reviews I have read rail on the poor quality of the film. The two biggest complaints are lack of adult dialogue and lack of action. Me, I thought it was one of the best movies I have ever seen. They are kids, not adults. That's the way kids talk. As far as action, I found the emotional struggles to be far more compelling than the action scenes (which, do not, BTW, define a good film). One user even commented that there is no way kids could get around by themselves like that. I was a kid living on the streets when I was younger, and what they accomplish in the movie is certainly not the least of what I have personally witnessed on the street.

For those who think only kids like this movie, I am 24. I think this film has been judged by all the wrong standards, and that not enough credibility is given to this straightforward portrayal of kids in trouble.

If you think kids are incapable of these things, try watching the movie "Kids."

For being categorized in the genre of "Action/Thriller", there wasn't a great deal of action nor was there anything particularly thrilling about this film.

I went into it with no expectations save for being entertained. As it was, I kept pushing the "Display" on my DVD player to see how much longer I had to endure this.

Claire Danes, Giovanni Ribisi and Omar Epps are extremely watchable and gifted actors. "The Mod Squad" offers them nothing to work with. On a story level, their origins are glossed over, the rocky relationship with their Captain (though stereotypical of so many Hollywood films) isn't even close to being fleshed out even a little and we (as the audience) have no reason to believe they even care why they're trying to solve the mystery presented in the film. I certainly didn't care and just kept watching to see how Ribisi would further destroy Epps' car in the little bit of comic relief someone thought to write in.

The technical aspects of the film are a disaster. The editing is simply poor and the action sequences appear to have been directed after a very heavy lunch when the crew would have better spent their time taking a nap.

This film could have been about angst and action, should have been better planned out and directed by someone who had a notion of how to handle the material, but alas it just wasn't.

Don't waste your time.