chips movie review

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The action comedy "CHiPS" is a buddy film about overcompensating characters that seems to have also been made by overcompensating comedians, often devolving into the same chauvinism and homophobia that star/writer/director Dax Shepard half-heartedly mocks. This isn't a knowing parody of a beloved show, a la the 2012 reboot/parody " 21 Jump Street " and its sequel; it's another example of the brain-dead entertainment against which its creators are supposedly reacting.

Painfully unfunny sex jokes ensue soon after Jon Baker (Shepard), a former pro-motorcycle rider turned straitlaced rookie highway patrolman, teams up with an undercover fed who goes by the name of Frank "Ponch" Poncherello ( Michael Peña ). Ponch is on the trail of a group of dirty cops led by Vic Brown ( Vincent D'Onofrio ) and reluctantly enlists Baker's help. That blind trust is supposed to be a remarkable sign of good faith given how much of a wreck Baker is; he's addicted to painkillers and can't bear the thought of breaking up with his estranged wife ( Kristen Bell ). Ponch's sex addiction and generally reckless behavior presumably complements Baker's whole uptight vibe.

Ultimately, the worst thing that happens to these men—between seemingly inconsequential confrontations with Kurtz—is that women constantly fling themselves at them. This could be funny if the film's characters seemed to be in on the joke, but they usually exhibit the same insecurities they're supposedly sending up. In a scene that's prominently featured in the film's trailer, Ponch falls face-first into Baker's naked crotch while he tries to bring his then-incapacitated partner to his bathtub for a soak. This scene is supposed to be the tipping point for the two characters: Ponch can't possibly be homophobic, because he and Baker bond over the absurdity of making face-junk contact.

Unfortunately, there's nothing funny about the parade of bare breasts and over-sexed, under-developed female characters that Shepard uses to perpetually re-affirm Ponch and Baker's heterosexuality. These guys may worry about each other's sexual preferences, as we see in the scene where Ponch gasps at the sight of Baker and his colleague's fully-clothed genitals touching each other when they embrace in the men's changing room. But Baker is almost immediately pounced on by Ava ( Rosa Salazar ), a fellow cop who just happens to be a motorcycle buff. Ponch is similarly sized up and treated to nude photos three times throughout the film, a running gag that climaxes as poorly as it begins. The fact that these guys have attractive women practically begging to strip and/or pose for them would be funny if Shepard actually did something with Ponch's sex addiction or Baker's timidity.

But more often than not, Shepard uses his characters' neuroses as hooks on which to hang lame sex jokes. These jokes, collectively, make "CHiPS" look like a broad comedy about one thing: straight men who can't bear the thought of being presumed homosexual. There's the out-of-nowhere joke where two Spanish-speaking car mechanics joke about Baker's presumably small penis while Ponch translates everything they say into disingenuously complimentary English. And there's the gag about Ponch getting a woman to perform anilingus on him, a joke that backfires immediately because Ponch insists that he likes to give as well as receive, since all modern couples do it. And, as if that joke's unpleasant reliance on the juvenile assumption that being kinky must be icky, there's also the out-of-context scene where Ponch and Baker are ogled by Ava, fellow lady motorcycle cop Lindsey ( Jessica McNamee ), and by a gay cop who is in barely any scenes but is exclusively identified as gay.

This last gag is especially telling. It feels like Shepard's defensive way of warding off criticism that the film is reveling in, rather than parodying, such piggish sexism. After all, how could the film be anything but good natured when two women and a gay man get to briefly objectify Ponch, and Baker too? By throwing viewers these token gestures of good faith, Shepard only makes his characters more exhaustingly unsympathetic. Never mind the fact that the film's chase scenes are so manically edited that you'll feel like you're watching a highlight reel of a chase instead of a full-length sequence.

The only laugh-out-loud moment in the film isn't even an intentional gag. It's the moment where Ponch gets off his macho high horse and shares a pseudo-empathetic moment with Baker, though it's also, tellingly, a moment where he's criticizing Baker for still being hung up on his wife. For a brief, shining moment, they talk about their feelings, and the film becomes something more than just a rancid gag machine. Then Baker teases Ponch for being sincere, and the movie goes back to being a monotonous slog. It's fitting that "CHiPS" concludes with two characters making out while a third one looks on. This joke is just a thin excuse for viewers to enjoy the sight of a woman's form-fitting pants as she straddles an unlikable character's lap and makes out with abandon. Because who needs empathy, human characters, good action, or witty banter when you can just leer at a woman from behind while she rewards an unworthy character with musky, manly, lady-objectifying sex?

Simon Abrams

Simon Abrams is a native New Yorker and freelance film critic whose work has been featured in The New York Times , Vanity Fair , The Village Voice, and elsewhere.

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Film Credits

CHiPS (2017)

Rated R for crude sexual content, graphic nudity, pervasive language, some violence and drug use.

100 minutes

Michael Peña as Frank 'Ponch' Poncherello

Dax Shepard as Jon Baker

Jessica McNamee as Lindsey Taylor

Adam Brody as Clay Allen

Ryan Hansen as Brian Grieves

Maya Rudolph as Sgt. Hernandez

Adam Rodríguez as Shamus

Monica Padman as Becky

Dax Shepard

Cinematographer

Mitchell Amundsen
Dan Lebental

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CHIPS Reviews

Me, I found Pauline Kael's review of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure echoing in my ears: "I liked the movie's unimportance. It isn't saying anything."

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 3, 2022

As a comedy, it's serviceable but never able to stake out something that makes it memorable. As an action film, it's a delightful throwback to a bygone era.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 29, 2021

The crudity flows as easily as the violence in this low-IQ outing, with a special emphasis on gay panic humor and an even greater emphasis on sexist humor (this is the sort of film that suggests that if a woman isn't a 10, she might as well kill herself).

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Nov 8, 2021

CHIPS doesn't offer much in the way of comedy, plot, characters, or the betterment of humanity.

Full Review | May 5, 2020

While this CHiPs in nothing like the television show it is a fun, good time. The stars, action and even the plot keep the audience interested and entertained.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 12, 2019

Despite an at-times desperate desire to entertain, CHiPs never manages to transcend its juvenile baseline.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Feb 12, 2019

CHIPS might not be the best film of the year, but it is worth checking out. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Jan 30, 2019

Mindless cinema can be fun, but not when it's this awful.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Dec 20, 2018

Not everything has to be raunchy and rated R. Just because Sony did it doesn't mean you have to do it.

Full Review | Original Score: 0.5/5 | Aug 30, 2018

There's no on-screen chemistry, the jokes don't work, the movie made no sense, and I was literally praying for it to end.

Full Review | Jan 30, 2018

It is really no plot at all, merely a vehicle to allow Shepard and Pena to riff about kinky bedroom habits, homophobia and so on. Those flippant exchanges fluctuate from funny to flat.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 26, 2018

... there is not much to say, beyond that this film was written and directed by the dissatisfied comedian Dax Shepard, mastermind behind the mediocre Hit and Run (2012)... [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Dec 28, 2017

Sure, the plot is paper thin like most reboots, but CHiPs is less about the story and more about the special effects and stunt riding, which are jaw-dropping.

Full Review | Dec 26, 2017

If it were physically possible, I would give the movie a ticket for being garbage and wasting 100 minutes of my life

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Dec 5, 2017

A formulaic film, there are no real surprises here and it fails to cash in its chips as far as holding your interest is concerned.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Nov 2, 2017

What a stupid, beautiful movie.

Full Review | Aug 22, 2017

I like dumb movies, but CHIPS is worse than dumb, because it is also painfully dull.

Full Review | Aug 14, 2017

A vacuous, unfunny, dull, and vapid cesspool of nonsense.

Full Review | Jul 9, 2017

The 2012 film that revived 21 Jump Street was a funny action comedy that showed a reasonable amount of respect for the original television series. By this reckoning, Dax Shepard's CHIPS is a double failure.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Jun 12, 2017

It's clearly struggling to be what it presumes its audience wants -- bawdy, violent, yet socially aware. But it fails because it lacks any real spark.

Full Review | Apr 19, 2017

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Review: In ‘CHIPS,’ Blown-Up Cars Overshadow Buddy Cops

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By Jeannette Catsoulis

March 23, 2017

A fascination with posteriors — both human and feline — isn’t the worst thing about “CHIPS,” but it’s up there. Borderline incoherent and unrepentantly lewd, this buddy-cop comedy (based on the 1977-83 television series of the same name) substitutes cars, ’copters and motorcycles for actual characters. The language might be mature, but don’t be misled: There’s nothing here that rises above the level of the playground.

Movie Review: ‘CHIPS’

The times critic jeannette catsoulis reviews “chips.".

“Chips” is a reboot of the 70’s TV series. This time around, two highway patrol officers are trying to expose dirty cops on the force. In her review Jeannette Catsoulis writes: Borderline incoherent and unrepentantly lewd, this buddy-cop comedy substitutes cars, ’copters and motorcycles for actual characters. The language might be mature, but don’t be misled: There’s nothing here that rises above the level of the playground. And that’s too bad, because then the talented Michael Peña wouldn’t have had to work so hard to hold this minimally amusing mess together. Yet beyond checking genre boxes, the action sequences, while undeniably flashy, often have debatable narrative utility.

And that’s too bad, because had there been, the talented Michael Peña wouldn’t have had to work so hard to hold this minimally amusing mess together. As Ponch, an undercover federal agent investigating corruption in the California Highway Patrol, Mr. Peña struggles to make his character more than a walking erection. That’s tough when your new partner, Jon (Dax Shepard, who also wrote and directed), seems so fixated on his own equipment that he keeps forcing you to look at it. The mixed messages are clamorous.

Exhibitionism aside, Jon is a battle-scarred motocross rider who has joined the patrol to impress his estranged wife (Kristen Bell, Mr. Shepard’s real-life spouse). Together, the partners chase unidentifiable men in full-face helmets and converse about what constitutes an acceptable masturbation schedule. A corpulent and clearly embarrassed Vincent D’Onofrio slips in and out of the frame as a dirty cop, and the delightful Rosa Salazar, playing a sexily competent colleague, deserves much more attention than the hardware-obsessed script is willing to give her.

“I don’t think we went more than three days on this movie without blowing something up,” Mr. Shepard says in the publicity notes, betraying the picture’s true intent. Yet beyond checking genre boxes, the action sequences, while undeniably flashy, often have debatable narrative utility. The accomplished cinematographer Mitchell Amundsen brings what context he can to the pyrotechnics, but not even he can perk up the movie’s drearily staged indoor setups. Focusing his camera intently on a cat’s backside, he must surely have been questioning his life choices.

Rated R for severed fingers, inappropriate sexting and serial vulgarity. Running time: 1 hour 41 minutes.

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Common sense media reviewers.

Some laughs, but more iffy stuff in TV-based action comedy.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Amid the mayhem is the idea that courage and compa

Jon Baker might be a bit of a ne'er-do-well, b

Lots of action violence, though some scenes are ca

Many references to sex and scenes with naked bodie

Frequent use of words including "f--k,"

A few products are seen frequently, including Chev

Social drinking. One character has had so many bro

Positive Messages

Amid the mayhem is the idea that courage and compassion are both rewarded when they're doled out authentically. Also, everyone has strengths that they can contribute to the world. Serious themes include marital infidelity and the death of a beloved colleague

Positive Role Models

Jon Baker might be a bit of a ne'er-do-well, but he's also kind, caring, and loyal. His partner, Frank Poncharello, also has some issues but ultimately is a lawman who wants to do his job well.

Violence & Scariness

Lots of action violence, though some scenes are cartoonish and played for laughs. But there's still lots of fighting/mayhem, including blood, gunshots, fist fights (which include knee-capping), explosions, cars and motorcycles careening about. At one point a motorcyclist is clotheslined and beheaded -- his body and head are shown separated. In another scene, a man's fingers are blown off, with the stubs shown up close.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Many references to sex and scenes with naked bodies. One patrol officer has a sex addiction, and his photo-heavy sexting conversations are shown on camera, including naked breasts. In one scene, a woman shows off her body, which appears to be fully naked, though viewers don't see her private parts. In another scene, a man walks in on a couple having sex; one partner's backside is fully visible. In other scene, a man helps an injured friend by carrying him to his bath, with much talk about nudity; the man nearly face-plants into his friend's privates, which are briefly visible. Some talk about the sex addict "having" to masturbate multiple times during the workday. One character ogles and objectifies women, with the camera lingering on their body parts.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Frequent use of words including "f--k," "s--t," "d--k," "a--hole," "bitch," and more.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

A few products are seen frequently, including Chevrolet, Ducati, Ferrari, Immodium, Walgreens, CVS, and the iPhone.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Social drinking. One character has had so many broken bones and injuries that he pops pills of all sorts constantly.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that CHIPS , inspired by the hit 1970s/'80s TV show , is a "hard-R" action comedy that's chock full of mature content. In particular, there's tons of sex, including lots of naked breasts, an interrupted sex scene, references to sex addiction and masturbation, sexting, and a brief flash of a main character's privates. There's also plenty of violence, some of which is pretty wince-inducing, including an accidental beheading that's shown in some detail. You can also expect frequent chases and explosions, gunshots, fights, and more. Characters drink and pop pills, and the language is very salty (including "f--k," "s--t," and more). One character in particular objectifies women. All of that said, the movie addresses some serious topics amid the mayhem, including marital infidelity and the death of a beloved colleague, and some characters ultimately exhibit both courage and compassion. Dax Shepard and Michael Peña star. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Community Reviews

Parents say (8)
Kids say (9)

Based on 8 parent reviews

It’s ok for 12+

What's the story.

Based on the hit 1970s/1980s TV show of the same name, the big-screen version of CHIPS stars Dax Shepard as rookie highway patrol officer Jon Baker, a veteran of the X Games who's amazing on a motorcycle but hapless at pretty much everything else (including his marriage to his estranged wife, Karen -- played by Shepard's real-life wife, Kristen Bell ). Somehow, though, he gets through the Police Academy and is partnered with an FBI agent who's undercover as CHP officer Frank "Ponch" Poncherello ( Michael Peña ), who's trying to round up dirty cops involved in a robbery and murder ring. Will the unlikely duo stop the bad guys and save the day?

Is It Any Good?

There isn't much about this action comedy that's inventive or original; the plot is so thin that it's barely visible. But, on a certain level, it works -- largely thanks to the great chemistry between Shepard and Pena, who manage to make even the cheesiest, silliest of their dialog sound somewhat funny. They're just fun to watch on the screen. Plus, the stunts do a lot to amp up the storytelling, and the jokes, while sometimes so tired they're fatigued, coax laughs out of the audience. You could say that CHIPS has charm, though how in the heck that happened is hard to tell.

One way the film could have easily been better? Doing away with the female objectification and the jokes based on stereotypes. Though this version of CHIPS is supposed to be modern in matters of how women are portrayed or seen, it's ultimately annoyingly retro. And then there's the script, which starts off with characters who have surprisingly rich back stories and ends up barely existing as a structural foundation. Maybe binge the original instead.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the violence in CHIPS . Is any of it funny? Why or why not? What's the impact of media violence on kids?

Jon is shown downing medications of all types and stripes all the time. Does the movie minimize the problem of addiction ?

How is sex portrayed in the movie? Is it loving? Parents, talk to your teens about your own values regarding sex and relationships.

How does the film compare to the original TV show? Which do you like better, and why? In general, do you like movies based on old shows? Why or why not?

Are any of the characters role models ? Why or why not?

Movie Details

In theaters : March 24, 2017
On DVD or streaming : June 27, 2017
Cast : Michael Pena , Dax Shepard , Adam Brody
Director : Dax Shepard
Inclusion Information : Latino actors
Studio : Warner Bros.
Genre : Action/Adventure
Topics : Friendship
Run time : 100 minutes
MPAA rating : R
MPAA explanation : crude sexual content, graphic nudity, pervasive language, some violence and drug use
Last updated : April 25, 2024

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‘chips’: film review.

Dax Shepard directs, writes and co-stars with Michael Pena in 'CHIPS,' a big-screen adaptation of the hit television series.

By Frank Scheck

Frank Scheck

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The television series CHiPs (1977-1983) wasn’t exactly a classic, but it shines as a beacon of excellence compared to the big-screen redo that falls squarely in the camp of such similarly misbegotten efforts as Car 54, Where Are You? and Starsky & Hutch . A puerile combination of raunchy sex comedy and bland action vehicle, CHIPS will likely manage the difficult feat of simultaneously alienating fans of the original series and newcomers who will wonder why a buddy-cop comedy displays so much homosexual panic.

The blame can fairly be assigned to Dax Shepard, who wrote and directed the film as well as co-stars alongside a miscast Michael Pena. They respectively play Jon Baker and Frank “ Ponch ” Poncherello , the California Highway Patrol officers originally played by Larry Wilcox and Erik Estrada. Other than the character names and setting, that’s pretty much it in terms of recalling the television show, whereas the film, as anyone who’s seen the raunchy trailer knows, seems to have its head in its crotch.

Release date: Mar 24, 2017

'CHiPs' and 15 More Shows From the 1970s That Were Adapted Into Feature Films

Shepard’s obvious love of motorcycles is evident throughout, with many elaborately staged action sequences shot in a gallery of Los Angeles locations showcasing gleaming vehicles and expert stunt driving. But despite all the effort involved, none of the chases or shoot-outs delivers any real thrills.

Desperate to push the envelope, the film includes such strained episodes as Jon and Ponch having an animated discussion about whether or not “ass-eating” is a common sexual practice, and the latter accidentally sexting with his middle-aged CHP supervisor (played by Jane Kaczmarek , who really deserves better).

Shepard employs his trademark goofy comedic style to little effect while Pena mostly looks uncomfortable, whether he’s riding a motorcycle or pretending that he’s somehow irresistible to women. The actors never display any real chemistry, which is the kiss of death for a movie of this type. Among the wasted supporting players is Vincent D’Onofrio , who fails to make his stock villainous character remotely interesting.

The film features a cameo by an affable Erik Estrada, while Larry Wilcox dodged a bullet by not participating. The roster of executive producers includes Steven Mnuchin , now the Treasury secretary. If the Democrats had been armed with a copy of this movie during his confirmation hearings, things might have turned out much differently.

Production company: Primate Pictures Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures Cast: Michael Pena, Dax Shepard, Vincent D’Onofrio , Rosa Salazar, Jessica McNamee , Adam Brody, Isiah Whitlock Jr ., Richard T. Jones, Ryan Hansen, Jane Kaczmarek Director-screenwriter: Dax Shepard Producers: Andrew Panay , Ravi Mehta Executive producers: Robert J. Dohrmann , Nate Tuck, Rick Rosner , Michael Pena, Dax Shepard, Steven Mnuchin Director of photography: Mitchell Amundsen Production designer: Maher Ahmad Editor: Dan Lebental Costume designer: Diane Crooke Composer: Fil Eisler Casting: Susie Farris

Rated R, 100 minutes

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DVD & Streaming
Action/Adventure , Comedy , Drama

Content Caution

In Theaters

March 24, 2017
Dax Shepard as Jon Baker; Michael Peña as Frank "Ponch" Poncherello; Kristen Bell as Karen Baker; Vincent D'Onofrio as Ray Kurtz; Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Peterson; Adam Brody as Clay Allen; Jessica McNamee as Lindsey Taylor; Rosa Salazar as Ava Perez; Jane Kaczmarek as Jane Lindel; Justin Chatwin as Raymond Reed Kurtz Jr.; Ryan Hansen as Brian Grieves; Maya Rudolph as Sgt. Gail Hernandez

Home Release Date

June 27, 2017
Dax Shepard

Distributor

Warner Bros.

Movie Review

Bad guys? They’re everywhere . That’s why you need the good guys to put them behind bars.

That’s the job of the brave officers who cruise the Golden State’s myriad streets and roads: the California Highway Patrol. But what happens when the good guys and bad guys get mixed up? Well, then you’ve got a problem. One that requires an outsider—posing as an insider—to solve.

Which brings us to CHiPs (a loose, raunchy remake inspired by the popular late-’70s buddy-cop series of the same name).

A motorcycle-riding gang of hoodlums keeps holding up armored trucks amid traffic jams on California’s notoriously snarled freeways, making off with millions. The FBI suspects some of those involved might be California Highway Patrol officers. So they send in a trigger-happy veteran agent going by the assumed name of Frank Poncherello—”Ponch,” for short—to infiltrate the Highway Patrol’s HQ in L.A. and identify those bad apples.

So far, so good.

Ponch’s new partner is a rookie. And not just any rookie. Jon Baker’s starting a new career to win back his estranged, cheating wife, Karen. He was once among the world’s elite BMX stunt motorcyclists. Alas, thrills, spills and surgeries have taken their toll on the man formerly known as “The Baker.” He’s a physical shell of his former self, popping pain pills like M&Ms, and eager for redemption and a renewed sense of purpose.

You could hardly imagine someone less qualified to be a police officer than Jon Baker, except for one important skill: He knows how to ride a motorcycle. Any motorcycle. Anywhere. And when you spend your days on bikes chasing baddies, that’s not a bad skill to have.

Ponch may be a better officer in most other respects. But he’s got a problem, too: sex addiction. Ponch just can’t help but leer at ladies in yoga pants—and there are a lot of them in SoCal—and he seemingly can’t help but seduce them, too.

Ponch doesn’t think much of Jon’s desire to repair his marriage. And Jon doesn’t think much of his partner’s lascivious appetites.

But no matter, really. Neither of them have much time to ponder anything other than catching the criminal mastermind who likely carries a badge and keeps getting away with duffle bags full of loot on a lightning fast Italian motorcycle.

Or at least he did … until Jon Baker and Frank Poncherello showed up.

Positive Elements

Jon sincerely wants to repair his damaged marriage and win back his straying wife’s affections. So much so that he endures ridicule from Ponch and resists multiple suggestive invitations from fellow police officer Eva Perez to begin a new relationship.

Ponch has his share of moral failings, to be sure. But he’s determined to track down the corrupt cops in the police force. In addition, we see throughout the film that he’s never really dealt with the death of a police partner years before. It’s a loss that Jon repeatedly tries to psychoanalyze, much to Ponch’s frustration.

Despite their odd-couple tensions, Ponch and Jon forge a friendship and professional partnership, one in which they’re willing to risk their lives for each other as they doggedly track down thieving criminals. Jon even dramatically saves Ponch from being hit by a truck. (Ponch tries to do the same for Jon, but doesn’t quite succeed.)

Spiritual Elements

Ponch jokingly says something bad that happened was God’s way of getting back at him for saying nasty things about Jon’s wife. A remote area is known as the “Devil’s Punchbowl.”

Sexual Content

Ponch, as mentioned, has an almost insatiable sexual appetite. Multiple jokes revolve around sexting. We see different women’s unclothed torsos and bare chests on smartphone screens several times, both in still photos and in one live video. One woman, shown very briefly, is completely naked. (She’s also the wife of a criminal whom Ponch is pursuing.) We also hear multiple verbal references to masturbation. There’s one short visual allusion to it, too. Ponch has sexted pictures of his anatomy to women. To his credit, Ponch seems to have a growing sense that his addiction is out of control, and he eventually says no to one willing partner.

A couple in a drug house gets caught (by Jon) having sex. The camera’s glimpse of them (we see explicit movements and the man’s bare backside) is extremely brief.

Ponch and Jon have explicit conversations about their sex lives. When Jon says that he and his wife haven’t had intercourse in more than a year, Ponch tells him she’s definitely having sex with someone else. Ponch (and another character) both talk about a particular taboo sexual experience.

Jon’s wife, Karen, wears a cleavage-baring zip-up swimsuit; she also wears revealing tops. Jon hugs another officer (whom we later learn is gay) in a locker room. They’re both wearing underwear. The camera watches their anatomy come into contact in slow motion. It’s a gag that almost makes Ponch gag for real as he watches in horror. Several conversations revolve around whether Ponch is homophobic. (Jon says he is, Ponch denies that accusation.)

Three police officers are gay. One is open about his sexual identity. (He tells a female officer he could be interested in both Ponch and John). The other two are closeted officers, at least one of whom is married (though his wife seems to be aware of his same-sex attraction). We hear that the gay couple has leased a residence together.

Jon, hobbled by pain in his aching joints, falls out of bed naked and can’t get up. He eventually calls Ponch, who carries him (wrapped in a curtain) to the bathtub. Ponch trips, prompting a conversation about where, exactly, Ponch’s face was when he fell on top of naked Jon. (We see the man’s privates very briefly after the fall, and we also see his bare torso and legs from the side.)

Ponch passionately kisses a clingy woman who’s waiting at his apartment after work. Jon chides him, saying he hopes Ponch isn’t taking advantage of insecure women to feed his sexual addiction.

Though he pines for his estranged wife for most of the movie, when it finally looks as though the couple might reconnect, Jon rejects her in favor of Eva’s attentions—as if to intentionally hurt Karen. Jon and Eva make out passionately, her on top of him, in an ambulance as Ponch and an EMT watch approvingly. [ Spoiler Warning : The EMT is played by Erik Estrada, who portrayed Ponch in the 1970s CHiPs TV show.]

There’s explicit talk about the aroused male anatomy. A song lyric dubs Los Angeles the “city of sex.”

Violent Content

CHiPs abounds with the kind of action violence you’d anticipate. There are multiple reckless car and motorcycle chases (with officers clocking thieves on bikes at 130 m.p.h. at one point).

Thieves repeatedly use explosives to blow the back doors off armored trucks—which also results in fiery devastation to the vehicles stopped behind the trucks. (At one point, the bad guys actually yank a woman out of a car so that she won’t be killed, easily the only decent thing they do in the whole movie.)

We see multiple fistfights and gun fights. The former include all manner of brutal blows and body slams. The latter include multiple people being shot, sometimes fatally.

Most of that action is intense, but bloodless. On the more grim side of things, a gay police officer jumps from a helicopter to his death on the concrete below to protect his partner (and their secret, illicit relationship). A motorcyclist zips under a wire at high speed, instantly decapitating him. (We see blood spray as the head flies through the air and lands with a glass-cracking crunch on a car’s windshield.) Someone gets three fingers shot off (we repeatedly see the bloody stumps as well as the dismembered fingers on the ground.)

Another person gets run over by a truck. A ricocheting bullet ends up embedded in a man’s forehead, killing him. (We see the bloody entry wound.) Early on, Ponch intentionally shoots an FBI partner in the shoulder, knowing the bullet will go all the way through and hit the bad guy holding the agent at gunpoint. (That’s exactly what happens, but Ponch’s FBI partner isn’t at all happy about it, because apparently he has a reputation for that dangerous ploy.) Someone’s choked with a chain, while another combatant gets whacked repeatedly and brutally with a crowbar. Someone else gets Tazed in a swimming pool, then tied up.

Archived footage showcases several bad motorcycle accidents Jon had during competition. He’s had more than 20 surgeries, we’re told, and he says that the worst pain he ever had involved a “scrotal tear.” The bone of his upper left arm has been replaced with a titanium substitute. It keeps Jon alive when he’s hit by a vehicle, and it also deflects two bullets.

Crude or Profane Language

At least 90 f-words (including about half a dozen paired with “mother”). The s-word tally clocks in around 50. God’s name is misused nearly 30 times (including about 10 pairings with “d–n”), while Jesus’ name is abused at least seven. We hear a dozen crude slang references (combined) to the male and female anatomy. Other vulgarities include “d–n,” “a–,” “a–hole” and “b–ch.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

Characters drink various alcoholic beverages throughout the film (whiskey, beer).

Jon isn’t depicted as a prescription pain medication addict, per se. That said, he frequently pulls out a bottle of pills and dumps a few in his mouth, then crunches them with his teeth. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to Jon’s frequent prescription med usage. Ponch scolds Jon, “You eat more pills than Elvis.”

A minor character is a heroin addict. We see him apparently in the throes of withdrawal as he tries to kick the habit.

Other Negative Elements

When it comes to being a policeman, Jon is a straight arrow, while Ponch is willing to overlook small (to medium-sized) offenses.

There’s deception and corruption all over the place here. A crooked cop tries to launder his ill-gotten loot by buying multi-million-dollar stolen artwork.

Jon vomits after he stumbles in upon a couple having sex in a filthy drug house (one with cat litter and excrement at the foot of the bed). An officer is described as “Asian as h—,” a phrase that’s repeated more than once. Ponch and Jon have multiple conversations about toilet and bowel habits.

It’s sweet that Jon Baker wants to restore his troubled marriage. Ponch’s pursuit of corrupt cops is admirable. And their emerging trust and respect for each other is nice, too.

Those are about the only nice things in this otherwise foul reimagining of NBC’s sun-drenched police series CHiPs , which aired from 1977 to 1983—a series I suspect few former fans were holding out hope it would someday return to the big screen.

But here it is, in all its 2017 “glory.” Which is to say that it’s now been loaded up with R-rated raunchiness and gratuity, mostly in the form of sexual gags and jokes of varying varieties. Vulgarity—visual and verbal—runs rampant in this buddy cop reboot that’s ostensibly about law and order. So much so that the film’s comedic disclaimer at the outset tells CHiPs ‘ viewers: “The California Highway Patrol does not endorse this film. At all.”

And neither do we.

Adam R. Holz

After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.

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CHiPs (2017) review

Michael Pena co-stars in an action-comedy flick based on the 70s TV show, CHiPs. A must see? Well, no...

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There are some stories that deserve to be told and retold – handed down through generation after generation, from campfire tales through to the era of TV and cinema and far beyond. Whether they’re related in the pages of a book or projected on a movie screen, these stories speak to the essence of what makes us human: our histories, our friendships, our fears and desires. CHiPs , based on the 70s TV show about two motorcycle cops in California, is not one of those stories.

Michael Peña stars as a trigger-happy FBI agent from Miami who, on the trail of a group of bank robbers with a hidden connection to the Los Angeles police, goes undercover as Officer Frank Poncherello at the California Highway Patrol Division (or CHiPs). There, he meets Officer Jon Baker (Dax Shepard), a former motorcycle racing champ who’s only joined the force as part of a flailing attempt to win back the affections of his wife, Karen (Kristen Bell, Shepard’s real-life spouse).

Odd-couple antics ensue, as Baker and Poncherello (or ‘Ponch’, or whatever) edge closer to the corrupt cop they’re after – Kurtz, played by a tired-looking Vincent D’Onofrio. There’s much nudity, plenty of swearing, and – for what’s meant to be a relatively light comedy – a surprising amount of gore.

Shepard, who made an early mark with the reality series Punk’d before graduating to the movies, exercises an auteur’s control over CHiPs . As well as its co-star, he’s the writer, director, co-producer and, unless our eyes are deceiving us, he’s had a hand in co-ordinating the stunts, too. The latter aspect which proves to be the movie’s strongest suit; the writing, on the other hand – that’s another story.

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There’s an early exchange between Baker – the honest yet wet-behind-the-ears rookie cop – and a younger female officer, Ava (Rosa Salazar), who’s signposted as his love interest. From memory, it goes something like this:

Ava: That’s a nice bike.

Baker: Oh, you like it?

Ava: Yeah, it’s cool.

Baker: Good.

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Ava: Yeah. I like bikes.

It’s one of those scenes where you can’t tell whether it’s improvised or scripted; whether the conversation is really going anywhere, or whether the actors don’t realise the camera’s running. CHiPs is full of these moments: loose, rambling dialogue scenes where characters choose a subject, riff on it for three or four minutes, and hope they’ll strike comedy gold. These topics include: how often Baker uses the bathroom, Ponch’s sex addiction, lycra leggings, dating apps, Baker’s crotch, Baker’s conniving wife, one of Ponch’s sex partners, motorcycle engines, and Baker’s crotch again.

In its R-rated combo of violence, bromance, improv and celebrity cameos, CHiPs ‘ template is plainly 21 Jump Street , which proved to be a big hit for Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill. But where that adaptation of an old TV show was enlivened by plenty of self-awareness and good-natured chemistry between its leads, CHiPs is pretty much levelled by its wildly misjudged tone and sleazy humour.

Put it this way: having a character comment on the film’s homophobic jokes doesn’t make the homophobia any less unpleasant. Having one or two female characters demonstrate their ability with a machine gun doesn’t make the camera’s ogling of said characters’ backsides any less crass.

Shepard and Peña aren’t necessarily terrible as the leading couple, and there’s a scene where we learn that Shepard’s character has so many injuries from riding motorcycles that his limbs barely work when it rains. It’s a moment that really humanises the character, and there’s a shiny-eyed earnestness to Baker that makes you think, just for a moment, that CHiPs might find its feet as a scattershot comedy. But then Ponch shows up, the conversation turns to Baker’s crotch again, and that hope is but a memory.

Shepard’s fixation on his motor-mouthed duo is such that his supporting actors barely get a look in. Such comedy stalwarts as David Koechner and Maya Rudolph get precisely one, awkwardly unfunny scene each. Kristen Bell has three, and they’re all identical – she shows up, says something nasty and exits stage right. D’Onofrio, who’s far too good for this nonsense, should make for a fine villain, but his big entrance is horribly botched (the dialogue doesn’t even match his jaw movements), and he spends the rest of the film looking a bit lost.

There’s one scene, however, where the actor suddenly bursts into life. Peña and Shepard show up at a gym and start on one of their free-associative rambles while D’Onofrio tries to lift some weights. D’Onofrio rears up to his full height, marches towards the pair, his fists clenched. A black cloud crosses D’Onofrio’s eyes, the film’s glib artifice disappears, and it looks for a second as though he’s going to tear Peña and Shepard limb from limb. It’s a great bit of physical acting – or, then again, maybe it isn’t. It’s possible D’Onofrio’s just realised what a terrible film he’s in, and is trying to decide whether to fire his agent or kill the two leading men who talked him into it.

After you’ve sat through all 101 minutes of CHiPs ‘ laboured comedy and crotch gags, you’ll probably feel the same way.

CHiPs is out now in UK cinemas.

Ryan Lambie

CHiPs Review

24 Mar 2017

100 minutes

There’s one encouraging take-away from this big-screen adaptation of the old motorcycle cop show, and that’s the knowledge that Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard’s marriage is secure and happy, because no unhappy couple would play a couple as dysfunctional as they do here. Unfortunately, that’s as good as it gets for Shepard’s attempt at a comedy update of the early ’80s Eric Estrada TV show.

Director Dax Shepard forgot to make it either funny or compelling.

Fans of the show remember it largely for bouffant hair dos, tight pants and leather boots, which is about all that set it apart from any number of other cop shows at the time. Wisely, Shepard decided to keep the look and highlight the silliness of the setting in his update; unwisely, he forgot to make it either funny or compelling.

Shepard plays Jon Baker, a former X Games stunt biker who, after a series of horrendous crashes, has retrained as a California Highway Patrolman in an attempt to rekindle his marriage to Bell’s monstrous groupie. He’s paired with maverick FBI agent Castillo (Peña), undercover as Francis ‘Ponch’ Poncherello and attempting to track down rogue patrolmen moonlighting as armed robbers.

Of course, the audience is almost immediately informed that Lt Vic Brown (Vincent d’Onofrio) heads the gang, so there’s no mystery in the gang’s identity, and the plot stutters forward incoherently without tension. Instead, endless dreary riffing between Peña and Shepard is meant to entertain us, but it never pays off in the slightest connection to the story. Peña’s Castillo has a weakness for women in yoga pants and… that’s it. It doesn’t distract him at a critical moment or blind him to an important witness, only justifies a series of butt shots. Perhaps for Shepard that’s enough. In fact, Peña’s characterisation is stunningly incoherent, with the film unable to even decide on his type of romantic partner from one scene to the next.

It’s just a waste. The premise is ripe for absurdity and the talented supporting cast have interesting quirks that might have livened things up if Shepard ever gave them the chance. Instead, aside from a few surprisingly gory moments, this makes the original show look good.

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Screen Rant

Chips review, chips is a generic buddy cop comedy that will leave both longtime fans and newcomers alienated with a weak story and thin characters..

One day in California, a band of criminals robs millions of dollars from an armored car and leave one police officer dead. As the California Highway Patrol begins their investigation, they suspect the job was perpetrated by some dirty cops and call on the FBI to help out in the case. The Bureau sends the skilled, yet irreverent, Miami-based agent Castillo (Michael Peña) out west to go undercover with the CHIPS. Castillo assumes his new identity of Frank "Ponch" Poncherello and gets to work on finding the five crooked officers so he can bring them to justice.

Upon arriving in Los Angeles, Poncherello is partnered with aged rookie John Baker (Dax Shepard), an X-Games flameout who has suffered one too many injuries in his career and is desperately trying to save his failing marriage with wife Karen (Kristen Bell) by working at the Highway Patrol. The two must put aside their personal differences to team up and solve the mystery of the armored car job, possibly developing a life-long friendship in the process - as long as they both get out alive.

CHIPS is based on the classic television series that aired from 1977-1983 and is the latest attempt by Hollywood to give a small screen show a reboot for the big screen, hopefully introducing the property to a new generation of fans. Whereas the original NBC series was a drama (with some humorous elements), this movie strives to be an all-out R-rated comedy in the vein of something like Phil Lord and Chris Miller's 21 Jump Street . Unfortunately, the creative team falls short of their ultimate goals. CHIPS is a generic buddy cop comedy that will leave both longtime fans and newcomers alienated with a weak story and thin characters.

Shepard, who also wrote and directed the film, really struggles with his approach. While he is trying something new with the material, the execution is off almost from the beginning. Shepard and crew follow a very standard, by-the-numbers formula that does not inject anything fresh into a tried and true genre, which will leave some viewers feeling bored. The main narrative is quite dull and uninteresting, making the film feel slightly longer than its sub-two hour runtime. Things might have been better if Shepard attempted some clever commentary on the responsibilities of modern law enforcement (think: Jump Street and high school culture), but CHIPS uses the Highway Patrol as little more than a backdrop to fuel a basic "find the dirty cop" story.

Obviously, the relationship between new partners Ponch and Baker is a main through line in CHIPS , and it's difficult to say the two make a great team. Much of the humor (especially early on) stems from their clashing outlooks on life. Baker is a sensitive man who prefers to open up about his feelings, while Ponch is a riff on the macho tough guy and suffers from a severe case of sex addiction (which is played up to almost cartoonish levels here). The actors themselves are decent in their roles, but the script follows an extremely basic trajectory and gives both little to work with. Their dynamic and overall arc feels unearned and underwritten, and they never really feel like an inseparable pair. To CHIPS' credit, the film does include a specific incident that attempts to explain the quick transition from bickering to buddies, but it's still not nearly enough.

The supporting cast unfortunately fares much worse. If Ponch and Baker are merely sketches of expected action comedy archetypes, those around them are essentially non-existent. Vincent D'Onofrio is completely wasted in a villain role with minimal screen time and little depth to explore, despite there being some potential with the relationship between his character and his son. Just about every female role leaves much to be desired as well, as many of the women in CHIPS are there simply to be ogled at by Ponch or make obvious advances towards Baker. In an era where many movies are featuring actresses as compelling characters that can carry a film, CHIPS is sadly something of a step backward, relying more on older industry practices that feel out of date. That sentiment also extends to several of the lowbrow gags, which feel lewd and crude for the sake of it than being natural.

Where CHIPS is arguably most successful is in the action. While the set pieces are nothing revolutionary and still run-of-the-mill, Shepard's love of motorcycles is apparent through these sequences (and probably the biggest factor in him making the film). Baker's prowess with the bikes is an extension of Shepard, as the actor did much of his own riding throughout the film, including stunts like wheelies and driving down a staircase. That passion and dedication is appreciated; it only would have been better if the film featured stronger characters or a more fascinating narrative, so the audience had a reason to care and got more than just superficial thrills out of these scenes.

In the end, CHIPS knows what it wants to be, it just never gets there, and that's disappointing. With more attention to detail and a better script, the film could have been a nice heir apparent to the Jump Street duology instead of a basic studio comedy. There isn't much to recommend here, since established fans of the property will be turned off by the raunchy take and younger viewers will wonder what the point is. Thanks to poor writing, a weak approach to storytelling, and some bizarre tonal shifts, CHIPS is a misfire, and moviegoers are safe waiting for Baywatch to get some R-rated laughs - unless one found the marketing appealing.

CHIPS is now playing in U.S. theaters. It runs 100 minutes and is rated R for crude sexual content, graphic nudity, pervasive language, some violence and drug use.

Let us know what you thought of the film in the comments!

Key Release Dates

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Review: California Highway Patrol Comedy <i>CHIPS</i> Takes the Low Road

Review: California Highway Patrol Comedy CHIPS Takes the Low Road

T o call Dax Shepard’s cops-on-motorcycles comedy CHIPS a movie version of CHiPs , the TV series of the late ’70s and early ’80s, would be an error in judgment equivalent to running a red light and causing a 12-car pileup. The names of the show’s lead characters, Jon Baker and Frank “Ponch” Poncherello (originally played by Larry Wilcox and Erik Estrada), haven’t changed, and there’s a brief cameo near the end that’s probably intended to connect the picture, however tenuously, with its roots.

But what a difference a few carefully placed capital letters makes. If CHiPs —about California Highway Patrol officers tooling around Los Angeles, solving crimes without ever really killing or hurting anyone—was pleasurably ridiculous, CHIPS is just tiresomely stupid. Shepard’s Jon Baker is a washed-up X Games champ who’s been injured so many times that he pops painkillers like vitamins. Worse yet, his wife, a shallow hottie swimming instructor (played by Kristen Bell, Shepard’s partner in real life), has given him the boot. He tries to put his daredevilry to use, and possibly win back his wife, by trying out for the California Highway Patrol. He gets in, barely, and is partnered with another department newcomer, Michael Peña’s freewheeling, ladykilling Poncherello—who is actually a Miami FBI agent, sent to Los Angeles to investigate a heist that just might be a CHP inside job.

Shepard’s Jon is a thoughtful, spacey manchild given to sharing too much information. Peña’s Poncho is obsessed with going to bed with as many women as possible. (Lululemon yoga pants really drive him wild: They’re his trigger, like the Queen of Hearts in The Manchurian Candidate. ) Their mismatched characters provide the springboard for a number of crude jokes, most of which are more dumb than they are offensive. Because Poncho is so uptight about feelings, Jon repeatedly charges him with being homophobic: The gag escalates until Poncho is summoned, for reasons not worth going into, to Jon’s apartment, where he’s asked to carry his stark-naked partner from bedside to bathtub. In doing so, he accidentally plants his face right in Jon’s “pubic mound.”

The funniest thing about the moment is the way Shepard, who has the wily innocence of a dissolute elf, says “pubic mound.” But the harsh reality is that it’s not very funny at all. CHIPS features heaps of motorcycle stunt riding, some of it done by the actors themselves: Wheelies abound, and there’s a bunch of driving up and down steps, if that sort of thing floats your boat. Vehicle pileups are plentiful, and Vincent D’Onofrio shows up as a beefy, villainous CHP lieutenant. (He gives the role more layers than most actors could.) But the plot is needlessly complicated and requires lots of exposition to cohere into anything that even remotely makes sense. The whole thing’s a drag, considering that Shepard, with his laid-back, loopy demeanor, has so much more to give. His picture from 2012, the ’70s-style getaway caper Hit and Run , was a blast of marvelous screwball escapism. Underappreciated at the time of its release, it’s ready for rediscovery anytime. But CHIPS just crashes and burns.

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One joke that explains CHIPS and the wishy-washy state of modern movie comedy

The adaptation of the TV series wants to be “woke” but also hilariously offensive. It’s neither.

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Lurching out of the past, turning up on movie screens like it’s 1994 and every old TV show should be a movie, here comes CHIPS , a complete anomaly in 2017.

Based on the 1977 to 1983 TV series of the same name (okay, the i and the s in the title were lowercase in that one), CHIPS is a bad movie, but bad in a way where you can see every choice made along the way to making it bad.

It feels caught between too many masters — tugged in the direction of grossout comedy here, ’80s action-comedy there, with occasional nods toward being a serious movie about the opioid epidemic seemingly added entirely in post. (Seriously, one character talks about his son’s drug addiction, but almost entirely when his face isn’t on-screen, so said dialogue would be easier to add during additional dialogue recording sessions.) Moments with nudity or crude language are weirdly sequestered from the rest of the movie, as if it was originally shot for a PG-13 rating, then frantically reconfigured into an R-rated film later on.

In short, it’s never enough of any one thing to gain momentum, and its indifferent direction (by star and screenwriter Dax Shepard ) means that when the final confrontation happens, it’s all but impossible to tell who one character is fighting — much less when that adversary showed up to join the fight. (I cannot say I know what happens in this sequence with 100 percent certainty.)

The movie lurches awkwardly from one thing to the next, as if it were originally double its 100-minute running time. It is, in short, a mess — but an interesting one! There’s a fascinating issue at the core of most of CHIPS’ s problems that speaks to what it means to create comedy in 2017. So let’s look at one joke that explains the film’s issues.

One joke that explains what’s wrong with CHIPS

Early in C HIPS , Francis “Ponch” Poncherello ( Michael Peña , good, but sorely testing my “Michael Peña is always good” hypothesis) first meets his new partner, Jon Baker (Shepard) in the California Highway Patrol locker room. Yes, those are the names from the TV show, but most of the story setup is new.

Ponch is an undercover FBI agent, looking to uncover dirty cops within the CHP. Jon is a former motocross rider who bombed out of the sport and is hoping to reinvent himself as a cop — but he’s none too good at anything but riding a motorcycle, which means he needs to ride the straight and narrow. Ponch’s bosses know that rookie Jon isn’t corrupt — but Jon’s incompetence also stands in the way of Ponch completing his investigation in time.

Anyway, during their meeting, Jon’s lower half is covered only by a tight-fitting pair of underpants, so Ponch flinches when Jon goes in for a hug. This is your basic, bro-y kind of joke — two dudes are so manly that they don’t want to hug.

But Shepard lives in the year 2017, is aware of progressive politics, and wants to let the audience know that he knows the underlying meat of this joke is “guys being intimate with each other is gross,” which is homophobic. So he has Jon call Ponch out on his homophobia, with the two arguing over whether it’s wrong that Ponch would rather hug a bikini-clad female model than an underwear-clad male stranger. (I should point out here that Ponch has a sex addiction, a character trait the movie half-heartedly brings up now and then when it needs to make the plot go.)

The conclusion of the scene involves another character — also clad in tight underwear — wandering in. He delivers a piece of exposition so thuddingly that you’ll immediately say, “Oh, that will be important to unraveling the mystery” (it is!), and then he and Jon hug, and Shepard cuts to the two’s crotches bumping together in the foreground while Ponch gazes in horror in the background.

The joke has gone from “two dudes hugging is gross” to “thinking two dudes hugging is gross a gross attitude in and of itself” to “two dudes hugging is gross.” And because Shepard has pointed out the underlying homophobia, the joke only becomes more homophobic, where you might not have noticed or cared in the original iteration.

The thing about this setup — a guy who’s a little too into his own “wokeness” and a guy whose attitudes are straight out of a 1970s TV show — is that it’s not a bad idea for a comedy. Buddy comedies are often about opposing worldviews coming into conflict, until both sides come to realize there’s some value in what the other side preaches. (Here, that might look like “Jon learns to embrace his inner dudebro a little bit, while Ponch learns some of his attitudes are out of date.” Not exactly the world’s most original story, but workable.)

Instead, Shepard sets up this idea, plays around with it for about a third of the film, then mostly abandons it in favor of a flat, lifeless mystery plot that’s too easy to figure out and crammed full of pointless loose ends, needless flashbacks, and muddy action sequences. None of the grossout gags are gross enough to prompt real laughter — a major setup is “Jon thinks cat shit smells bad,” which, sure, but I need more! — and the character conflict the movie sets up early on is shunted aside in favor of Jon and Ponch being super best pals.

The idea of the two being super best pals is somewhat close to the original TV series, but the original TV series also only had to fill a little under 50 minutes of time every week. Double that, and you end up with a dull exhale of a movie, one that wants to provoke the audience by sticking its fingers in social taboos while simultaneously being too timid to do just that.

Which brings everything back to the state of the Hollywood comedy. Comedy itself is based on archetypes, which usually border on stereotypes. Some of these are harmful — especially ones based on innate, genetic things nobody can change about themselves — and some of them aren’t (a snob versus a slob will be a comedy storyline until the end of time, probably).

But we’re in a weird time where comedy writers and directors are simultaneously aware of that harmfulness and don’t want to add to it, while also remembering how many of their favorite comedies of the past played with those very archetypes to hilarious effect. Some are deft enough to be able to get away with playing around in that grey area ( Judd Apatow and Paul Feig come to mind), but most end up stranded in a weird, in between place. They want to mock modern sensitivities — but also honor them — and they end up neither here nor there.

“Neither here nor there” is also a great description of CHIPS , which always seems to be on its way somewhere else. It never gets there.

CHIPS is in theaters everywhere. So try to stay away from them if possible.

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