The idea sounds simple enough for an interesting commercial comedy action thriller – a murder case that requires the cooperation of two cops to solve – one French speaking and the other English speaking from neighbouring Quebec and Ontario.  And adding the scheme of pitting a BON COP (good cop) against one bad is a bonus.  Perhaps only a Canadian can appreciate the true rivalry between the Canadian English and the Canadian French but with such a bilingual film, the formula looks primed for success.  With two of the better and popular actors currently working in Canada, Patrick Huard and Colm Freore, what can go wrong?

Fortunately, everything goes right in during the first ¾ hours of the movie.  Director Eric Canuel’s film is fast paced, action packed and the jokes are hilarious and very local.  The story takes place in both Montreal and Toronto, the province capitals.  When a victim is lies spread up on top of the bienvenue/goodbye sign at the Ontario/Quebec border, the two police chiefs decide that c’est bon pour le publicité that the two cops work together to solve the case of the Hockey murders.  The trouble is that the BON COP is a Torontonian go-by-the book, red neck Martin Ward (Colm) who is first shown ironing his shirt prior to work.  In contrast, the Quebec counterpart David Bouchard, a Rambo on steroids, is in a tank top, frying pancakes for breakfast.  The script has the solving of the Hockey murders as the primary goal with everything else in second place.  Partly written by Huard (his idea) and by two other TV writers, it shows limitations and is cliché bound.  Similarities of the two cops lie in their inability to connect with their daughters.  Bouchard is too busy to remember the ballet recital.  But again as they say, it is not the story that matters but how it is told.  The scene where Bouchard turns up for the recital, cheering his daughter on as if in a hockey match, works.

BON COP BAD COP gets my vote for the film with the funniest comedic set up this year.  Bouchard and Ward accidentally trigger the alarm that burns a weed house.  While still feeling the effect of the pot fumes (giving them the giggles and extra courage to make snide remarks), they are forced to face the wrath of Bouchard’s Quebec superior. 

Real cross border issues exist and some keen observations are captured on film.  In Quebec, smoking is allowed in restaurants and bars while not in the other.  Bouchard smokes in his car and remarks that he is in the smoking section when the non-smoker Ward complains.  Angelina Joli is cool in Quebec because of her tattoos while a rebel in Ontario.  Locking a suspect in the car?  That’s a Quebec tradition!  But it becomes an Ontario one as well once Ward is pushed past the limit.  The script is smart enough to allow the uptight Ward to win the girl too (though Bouchard gets to ‘braiser’ his).

But the problem lies in the length of BON COP BAD COP.  Still, it is an improvement over Canuel’s overlong comedy ROUGE NEZ and LA LOI DU COCHON which had too many distractions.  (ROUGE NEZ was never released in Ontario but had a screening during Cinefranco, the French film week held annually in Toronto.  PIG’S LAW lasted only a week in Ontario.) If BON COP BAD COP (GOOD COP, MAUVAIS COP) had been edited 15 minutes down with less of the murder solution and more of the comedy, it would be the perfect Canadian film of the year.  Still, Canuel’s film is terrific fun with the action (car chases, fights etc) sequences well executed.  But it is the chemistry of both Freore and Huard that makes the film tick. C’est un bon film!