On international flights, which usually come with private entertainment screens and a broad selection of films from both departure and destination, I often make a game of finding the movie that strikes the greatest balance between lowest-common-denominator commercialism and unlikeliness of being released in the US. With Hollywood churning out endless dreck on a yearly basis, there's only so much room for imports, and the result is that these kinds of mid-range, populist productions get squeezed out in favor of the high-brow product favored by arthouse crowds. This means a whole segment of foreign filmmaking never makes it to US shores - dumb comedies like this one, produced for local audiences and pitched at the cheap seats.
What do you say about a film like OVERSIZE COPS? You know exactly what you're getting from the title. Stymied by their own avoirdupois while chasing a suspect, the film's eponymous heroes land in hot water when a video of incent goes viral, making them the laughingstock of Thailand and whipping boys of the department brass. With the crew mandated by their squad captain to lose weight, their handsome superior (Suppavitch Meepremwattana) takes pity, attempting to help the quartet reach its goal by hooking them up with a sexy athletics instructor (Natjaree Horvejkul). But will their newfound commitment to diet and exercise be strong enough to withstand the temptations of the fridge?
Honestly, the film sinks a bit under the weight (pardon) of wildly mixed messages, with the requisite fat jokes running up against subplots about body-positivity and personal empowerment. For a film so obviously about what it's about, OVERSIZE COPS is strangely hesitant to go all in, tossing out the occasional guy-can't-stop-eating or seductive-voiced-fridge joke without really taking the premise and running it to ground. The film is infused with plenty of none-to-subtle messaging about the importance of proper eating and exercise, yet this is undercut by an ending that finds the cops retaining their current proportions and learning to accept themselves as they are. The film's confused philosophy apparently boils down to: eating right and staying healthy are important, though you should love yourself no matter how you look. Also, fat people are funny and watching them eat is hysterical.
Mixed messaging aside, the performances are decent (one of the cops, who looks kind of like an Asian Nick Frost, is particularly funny), and some of the pratfalls amusing. A crime-solving/mystery subplot is so woefully under-developed it barely registers, but no one's coming to this movie for the story. Like its mid-tier Hollywood counterparts, it exists to provide fleeting, low-stakes entertainment, a goal its half-in comedy and muddled messaging achieve in spades. While the main theme may be overindulgence, this is one film repast that eats more like a snack than a meal.
