Cop and a Half opened at #1 in the U.S. and grossed $40.7 million worldwide against a $14 million budget. The film was followed by a lower budgeted, direct-to-DVD sequel, Cop and a Half: New Recruit (2017).
Devon Butler is an eight-year-old boy who lives in Tampa with his grandmother and dreams of being a cop. He watches police TV shows, knows police procedures and plays cops and robbers with his friend Ray. One day, while snooping around in a warehouse, he witnesses a murder. He goes to the police, who want the information, but he refuses to give it unless they make him a cop. They place him in the care of veteran Detective Nick McKenna, who dislikes children, and the two team up in a comic series of events to find the killer and take down a drug kingpin who ordered the hit.
Macaulay Culkin was approached to play the child.[4] Culkin dropped out, along with Kurt Russell, who was attached to play Det. McKenna, when the film was delayed for script rewrites. The child co-star was re-written to be female, but was returned to male when Golden was cast.[5] Shooting took place in Tampa, Florida, between April and June 1992.[6]
Reynolds reportedly argued with director Winkler through the shoot, and would become convinced that producer Brian Grazer refused to work with him again as a result.[7]
Despite several crew members alleging that Reynolds was difficult to work with, he behaved with incredible courtesy toward Golden. In a 2024 interview, Golden stated that he remembered that Reynolds as a "class act" who took issue with the disingenuous people who were "only around him for who he was". Golden recalls Reynolds as being responsive to the more genuine individuals around him.[8]
The film's original score was composed by Alan Silvestri.
The film received mostly negative reviews from film critics, and holds a 13% approval rating on the film review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 3.3/10.[9] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B+" on scale of A+ to F.[10]
Jay Boyar of the Orlando Sentinel wrote, "Just about the only really enjoyable thing about Cop and a Half is Norman D. Golden II, who is genuinely cute and a pretty good little actor besides."[11]
Film critic and historian Leonard Maltin seemed to agree. "A hemorrhoid-and-a-half to anyone who sits all the way through this...abjectly painful comedy, which does about as much for Reynolds' career as Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot did for Sylvester Stallone's. That it was Ray Sharkey's last movie adds insult to injury."[12]
Critic Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune also excoriated the film, seeing it as indicative of "artistic bankruptcy" on Burt Reynolds's part, and singled out Norman D. Golden II's performance as "awkward". Siskel later called it the worst movie of 1993. Siskel speculated that NBC thought little of the film when they aired it in its broadcast-network debut, pointing out that they scheduled it opposite the 1997 Super Bowl.[13]
However, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 3 stars out of a possible 4, saying, "There isn't much that's original in Cop and a Half, but there's a lot that's entertaining, and there's a winning performance by a young man with a big name, Norman D. Golden II, who plays little Devon Butler, a kid who dreams of someday wearing the shield."[14]
Box office
The film debuted at number 1.[15] In its second week it dropped to number 3.[16] Industry analysts expected it to open with $4 million, but it grossed $6 million.[17]Variety attributed the film's opening to its poster, which they said is reminiscent of Kindergarten Cop.[18] It grossed a total of $31.9 million in the U.S., and another $8.8 in other territories, for worldwide total of $40.7 million, making the film a considerable success against its modest $14 million budget.[2]
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