Review of The Mod Squad (1999) by Mike B — 21 Jan 2013

Incredibly disappointing remake of the Arron Spelling television series, considering the talent involved in front of and behind the camera. If you're unfamiliar with the TV series, Claire Danes, Giovanni Ribisi and Omar Epps are teens with checkered pasts looking to clear their records by working undercover for the police.

I did appreciate that the filmmakers did not take the obvious route wasting time showing how the squad was formed and instead start right off the bat with them already working for the police. There's also a decent supporting cast that includes Josh Brolin, Dennis Farina, Eddie Griffin, Michael Learner and the under-appreciated Richard Jenkins in an early role.

And there's a nice retro influenced score by BC Smith too. However, the film ends up being a turgid cliched police procedural about drug dealing, dirty cops and so on, instead of being the fun popcorn action flick that it could have been.

Ribisi and Danes' characters actually acknowledge the cliches at one point in the film, but it still didn't make the film feel any more fresh or original. It's slickly made and has a good soundtrack, but it's all pretty by the numbers.