Newspaper Article

‘CHiPs’ shows promise for TV-show-turned-movie genre

Weiss, Josh

2017

Overview

[...]many do say it’s operating on a nearly empty tank of original imagination with the seemingly endless stream of sequels, prequels and reboots that studios crank out every year with the streamlined efficiency of an early Ford assembly line. The latest to attempt to turn TV history into box office gold is “CHiPs,” a surprising laugh-out-loud R-rated comedy that, while following in a similar vein of “Jump Street,” also ups the ante on the entire trend of turning shows into movies. Based on the dramatic series of the same name (about motorcycle-riding California Highway policemen that made a star out of Eric Estrada and ran from 1977 to 1983), “CHiPs” was written and directed by Dax Shepard (“Idiocracy,” “Let’s Go To Jail”) who also stars in it and doesn’t waste any time getting to the punchlines. In “CHiPs,” Baker (Shepard) is a pill-munching shlub with bad knees who only joins the CHP to win back the affections of his apathetic swim-instructing wife, played by his actual real-life wife, Kristen Bell. Shepard also made the insanely smart move of casting Michael Pena as Ponch, who is actually an undercover FBI agent sent to join the CHP as part of an operation to root out some dirty cops who have been committing literal highway robbery. Specifically, Whitlock Jr. is terrific as Ponch’s exasperated boss — another example of turning the serious into light-heartedness — who can’t get over the exorbitant amount of federal money being spent on the operation, not to mention...

• Publisher: Uloop, Inc
• Subject: Comedies / Comedy / Literary Genres / Motion pictures / Organic Chemistry / Target markets / Television / Television programs / Video Games