![[box cover]](../reviewimgs/m/modsquad.jpg)
The Mod Squad
Why make original movies when there are still so many '60s television shows to recycle? Well, we're sure the powers-that-be in Tinseltown don't want to hear the answer to that one, but it's because most of the recent small-screen rehashes bite -- and The Mod Squad is one of the worst. Three young hooligans (Claire Danes, Giovanni Ribisi, Omar Epps) are busted for sundry crimes, but instead of going to jail, LAPD Capt. Adam Greer (Dennis Farina) cuts them a deal -- act as undercover agents for the department, infiltrate hipster hangouts we can't get into, and provide us with information. But when the troubled trio discover corruption in the department, they have nowhere to turn and must strike out on their own to get the evidence that will keep them out of the joint. Sounds great, except that every bit of bad-ass potential in The Mod Squad slips through the fingers of writer Stephen T. Kay and director Scott Silver. Instead of getting to see these hormone-infested pups take on the bad guys, we actually learn that these are sensitive youths who are not really up to the task of police work. Supermodel-slender Danes nearly has a nervous breakdown because she discovers a guy she has just started dating is cheating on her (oh no!); cherub-faced Ribisi has serious issues with his wealthy parents, who have trouble accepting his criminal tendencies (sob!); and funk-soul brother Epps is more concerned about his prized Lincoln Continental than catching bad guys (and the running gag about how Ribisi keeps damaging Epps' wheels grows tiresome before it even starts). When the threesome finally determine that the bad guys are trafficking drugs through a little-used airfield, Ribisi chimes in by declaring "I feel I should say I'm getting too old for this shit!" Maybe and maybe not, but he's right about one thing -- this is shit. Solid transfer, DD 5.1, trailer.
