Although Kopps received a limited theatrical release in Europe, you probably missed. It’s one of the freshest comedies of 2003. I saw it recently on TV and remembered how fun it was.
Kopps is a Swedish movie, directed by Josef Fares, a Lebanese-Swedish filmmaker. Variety recently declared him one of ten upcoming directors to watch in 2006.
Kopps is about a quite police department in rural Sweden where four police officers, a dispatcher, and their chief are all spending their time in meaningful activities like taking a cow off the main road. There are no crimes and as fate will have it, someone at HQ decided they no longer need a police department if there’s no work.
Fares Fares (Josef Fares’s brother) is one a of the lead characters. He and the other police officers come up with a plan for doing petty crimes in order to change the statistics. The closure of the department is “actioned on” by the beautiful Eva Röse, who’s the “guy from HQ”.
There’s a wisp of romance between Eva and Fares’ characters but the movie is mostly about being a comedy. There are scenes that are truly funny and others that will get a chuckle. I found the movie very refreshing and I really loved Benny’s character. Both action sequences (Benny being a super-cop) were hilarious.
Considering the limited budget (about 2 Million USD), I think Josef Fares is definitely on to something. Variety could be right about him.
Note: The Kopps DVD (with English subtitles or dubbed) can be ordered here. Alternatively, you might find the Kopps torrent.
Interesting to see a comment on this film from “over there”. For me this film was at the time a disappointment since his previous film (wit Aril as DOP as well) was in our Swedish eyes a fantastic film. Now I had the oppurtunity to see Kopps agaiin the other week. Yes you are right it is a wellmade and very funny film. To high expectations can kill any film.
By the way. “My” directors in my TV-serial Spung had Premier on their first Feature. “Storm”. THAT is something very, very interesting. Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein. They do have something very intresting, especiially with Linus Sandgren as DOP.
Leif Mohlin, producer Miint and Swedish Television
Hi Laif,
I’m definitely looking forward to seeing Storm. I’ve already read several positive reviews about it.Since Eva Röse is in it, it’s a no-brainer for me anyway.
You can keep track of the movie here: Storm at the IMDb
I loved the first 20 minutes of Kopps, they were fast-paced and created a great deal of expectation. The love subplot was a bit hollow and it didn’t get a resolution within the movie.
It’s a nice little movie overall
I thought this was a really funny movie and can imagine that there is a lack of crime in some small towns. In fact I live in Halmstad and supposedly the police station closes at 4pm!
Does anyone know where I can buy this movie with English subtitles as I’d love to get it for a friend?
Cheers