A tawdry, sexist disappointment
Chips was a wholesome TV show in the 1970s and ’80s about two California Highway Patrol officers. They were a couple of good-natured guys who embodied California cool with their motorcycles and mirrored sunglasses, solving problems, catching criminals and brightening days everywhere.
Reimagined by writer, director, producer and star Dax Shepard, the big-screen Chips is a tawdry, testosterone-fuelled tale built around jokes and endless evaluation of women’s appearances.
The two main characters discuss the looks of almost every woman on screen. Calling someone “a 2” might be a forgivable comic misstep, but making such remarks a major part of a movie’s humour is reductive and gross, not to mention outdated and uninspired. Maybe you need to look like Kristen Bell or have a Y chromosome to find it funny. News flash: Women don’t exist to be beautiful for men. Doesn’t everyone know that in 2017?
The best thing about Chips is some classic Southern California scenery and superb motorcycle riding, complete with stairwell tricks and airborne stunts. But overall, the film is an uncomfortable eye-roll. Shepard and co-star Michael Pena have plenty of charm, but not enough to support the feeble story and tasteless jokes.
Shepard is Jon Baker, a former motocross champ trying to reinvent himself and save his marriage by joining the CHP. The 40-year-old rookie is paired with Frank “Ponch” Poncherello (Pena), an FBI agent working undercover to root out potentially crooked officers within the CHP. But this Jon and Ponch are so inept, so distracted by hot chicks and pseudophilosophical conversations about “homophobia” and “closure,” that buying them as actual law enforcement is too much of a stretch. They’re more like frat guys doing cosplay.
And guy humour is one thing, but this is just dumb. One repeated gag involves Shepard in his underpants and Pena’s discomfort at being around his near-naked partner.
That kind of lowbrow stupidity could be redeemed by a strong story or well-developed characters, but Chips offers neither. Ponch and Jon are caricatures, and even the crime they’re investigating lacks punch because the crooked cops’ motivations are never explained.