FBI Agent Castillo (Peña) gets put undercover in the California Highway Patrol in order to uncover a ring of corrupt cops. He gets partnered with former motocross racer Jon Baker (Shepherd), because despite his age he's a rookie and the feds figure he'll be more compliant with Castillo - undercover as "Francis Poncherello". He's not; he's a probationary rookie because he sucks at literally everything except motorcycling and he's desperate to prove himself and get back in good with his wife Karen (Kristen Bell). So Ponch starts dragging him around as he investigates this group of cops, but discovers that Baker is actually kind of useful - not only is he a superb cyclist, but he's insightful and observant.
The plot follows a fairly standard buddy-cop formula; they hate each other, they like each other, they run afoul of the bad guy (D'Onofrio), they run afoul of stupid bosses (Brody as the FBI agent that Ponch has inadvertently shot a couple of times), competent bosses (Whitlock Jr. as Ponch's actual chief who fires him when things go absolutely tits up and a suspect (Justin Chatwin) gets decapitated), there's a big shootout, they win the day!
So...I actually kinda liked this movie. It reminded me in some ways of Hit and Run, another movie Shepherd wrote, inasmuch as the humor hits on some uncomfortable topics but mostly lands, the vehicle action is solid, and the characters are more fleshed out than they often are in this kind of movie. They have flaws and history to go along with their skills - Ponch is a very capable investigator, but he's also a sex addict. Baker is emotionally intelligent and smart, but he's addicted to painkillers, has a tendency to get sick in people's houses, and an absolutely terrible shot. Likewise, the presentation of those problems is played for laughs, but still comes off as sympathetic. Baker gets sick in a suspect's house, but the camera shows things like litter boxes, food, and so on that lets us kind of gets a more visceral sense of his discomfort. Peña plays Ponch's addiction as something he's kind of in denial about, but he kind of unravels around woman in yoga pants and he has to stop to jerk off several times a day.
This is kind of what I mean about uncomfortable topics played for laughs - some of this stuff comes off as a little...much (though not to the extent that Hit and Run did), but for the most part I think it works because it's more about the situations these issues create rather than poking fun at the people involved. (And, I should note that Shepherd is himself a recovering addict, so he actually does know what he's talking about. No idea if he's hypersensitive about home smells, though.)
The other thing of note is that while the CHiPS TV show was pretty sanitized, and proudly displayed a "this show is endorsed by the California Highway Patrol" before each episode, this movie is rated R and gleefully not so endorsed. The result is a movie that doesn't bear much resemblance to the show (as far as I know; I didn't watch it much), but is actually pretty funny. (My favorite line might be when Ponch and Baker discover that D'Onofrio's character Kurtz is the bad guy, and in describing him Baker says "He looks like he hates koala bears!")
So by no means a perfect movie, but definitely the best one Toasty's given me so far.
My Grade: B
Rewatch Value: Medium
Rewatch Value: Medium
Next up: Fantastic Four: First Steps
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