i have little against remakes and updates of older films and tv series .
if there 's a will , there 's a way ; and i believe that anything , no matter how great or revered can be effectively improved upon .
this is the reason that i responded so well to gus van sant 's universally panned update of psycho ; i thought it to be not only an intriguing cinematic experience , but also very on - par with an original .
but i do have a big problem with remakes that are blatantly bad .
you see , the point of a remake is , or at least it should be , to iron out the original 's flaws and bring the work that much closer to greatness or even perfection .
but what if the source material on which the remake is based is n't any good to begin with ?
that is the only cinematic question pondered by the bland actioner the mod squad .
i 've only seen a couple episodes of the late 60s tv series on which it is based , and to be honest , i did n't like it all that much .
it has a concept that -- and still is -- interesting ; a group of corrupt young adults ,
all in their early 20s are given a choice : they either go to jail for the various crimes that they all have committed , or they can become undercover cops , helping the police get into places that they normally would n't be able to access .
obviously , all 3 opt for the latter option and become undercover policemen ( and policewomen ) .
the three main characters here are played by claire danes , omar epps and giovanni ribisi .
of the three , only danes has a real character .
ribisi 's dumbass 20 year old is played exclusively for laughs ; epps ' slightly more intelligent one is used to create various chase scenes .
when the squad 's superviser gets killed off and his reputation dirtied in death , the three of them , sure that their beloved master was framed , go off and investigate on their own , discovering corrupt cops , lots and lots of expensive whores and very lucrative drug operations .
all kinds of good stuff !
the only times that the mod squad comes even close to working is in its comedic moments .
although ribisi is a trite actor and his characters repeat movie after movie , his man here is really rather amusing , when the script gives him a chance .
epps ' straight man is effectively played against ribisi 's clueless spontaneity .
but the rest of the film is dull , boring and singularly uninteresting .
a drug - op action plot is no longer anything new , not even with teenage action heroes , and the way it 's executed here , it 's also nowhere near exciting or suspenseful
.
claire danes ' character has potential , but it is buried under heaps of cliches and her performance is too restrained .
she could have been a tour - de - force , but instead director scott silver puts shackles on her and simply does not allow her to do anything really significant with her role .
epps and ribisi fare slightly better and do as well as can be expected , although their characters are n't nearly as rich as danes ' could have been .
the mod squad is a mind - numbing marketing plot of a film , and teens will jump all over it .
it 's full of bad dialogue , scenes and concepts that make no sense and -- get this --
drug dealers that like to tango with other guys in their spare time .
nothing is remotely intriguing or worth paying for .
claire danes is no longer alluring -- mainly because she 's got a horrible hairdo , so that draw is out .
there are , however , cool explosions , guns and chases which may lure a viewer into thinking that he or she is about to experience an exciting thriller of some sort .
do not be fooled .
some may call this escapist fare -- i call it escape - as - quickly - as - you - can fare .
i do have a big problem with remakes that are blatantly bad full of bad dialogue , scenes and concepts that make no sense dumbass 20 year old is played exclusively for laughs nothing is remotely intriguing or worth paying for it 's also nowhere near exciting or suspenseful a mind - numbing marketing plot of a film a trite actor it is buried under heaps of cliches and her performance is too restrained the rest of the film is dull , boring and singularly uninteresting