When the police discover that a mob hitman has moved in next door to the Robbersons, they want to find out what he is up to. So they set up a stakeout in the Robbersons' home. Hard-nosed, tough-as-nails Jake Stone and his young partner Tony Moore are assigned to the stakeout, but now it is a question of whether Jake can last long enough to capture the bad guys. The Robbersons want to help, and by doing so they drive Jake crazy.
The script for Cops & Robbersons was written on spec by Bernie Somers which Channel Productions purchased in August 1992.[2]
Reception
Cops & Robbersons received generally negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 18% based on 22 reviews, with an average rating of 3.5/10.[3]
Roger Ebert gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, referring to it as "one more variation on the FOW movie, so called because the plot involves a Fish Out of the Water". He singled out a scene in which Chase's character smuggles police officers into his home and snatches a cat from his wife, commenting:
Funny? Yes? No? Lucille Ball could pull off moments like that, because you could almost believe she was that desperate, and scatter-brained. Desi Arnaz could almost be fooled by such a moment, because Lucy always had him confused anyway. But Norman and Helen Robberson? Watching the movie, I knew I was supposed to laugh, but all I could think of was: what did the people making the movie think about this scene while they were filming it? Anything?[4]
Chevy Chase is lucky "Cops and Robbersons" isn't a sitcom. If it were, it would be canceled as pronto as his talk show was. The fault is not just Chase's—the plot in this "Stakeout" clone is a sack of woe—but much of the responsibility is. Someone wrongly advised Chase that it's enough to be the lovably klutzy Chevy, that no acting or effort is necessary. As a result, Norman Robberson is another in a too-long list of overly sedated Chase characters that are nothing to laugh about, or at. That's a serious problem for a comedy.[5]
Chris Hicks of the Deseret News opined that "Norman is the most ridiculous sitcom husband and father to grace the big screen since . . . well, since Clark Griswold, of the "National Lampoon's Vacation" pictures. And since both Norman and Clark are played by Chevy Chase, why not? They're both dumb and clumsy and have dysfunctional families, and they both pretend that everything's OK. But where the "Vacation" pictures had some satiric bite to offset the silliness—well, the first one did—"Cops and Robbersons" is just stupid. Loaded with ill-timed pratfalls and dopey physical shtick, it's movies like this that give slapstick a bad name."[6]
Janet Maslin of The New York Times lamented that the film was "even more unfunny than his disastrous talk show", calling it "a Chase vehicle with four flat tires".[7]
Year-end lists
Top 10 worst (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Mike Mayo, The Roanoke Times[8]
Box office
The film debuted poorly at the box office, earning $3.7 million and coming in second place behind Four Weddings and a Funeral.[9] The film grossed just $11,391,093 in the domestic box office from an unknown budget.[1]
