Excellent but underrated film

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Blistering performances.

"Bending the Rules" is a low-budget action-comedy-bromance that offers a sufficiently pleasant diversion. On the positive side, Copeland delivers a consistently interesting performance as a slacker detective with his thumb on the pulse of the seedier side of New Orleans, who isn't above bending the rules, but is essentially an honest, dependable cop. Whereas Copeland's character is instantly likable, Kennedy's character is annoying, sanctimonious, inflexible, neurotic and instantly unlikeable. Many of the supporting roles are robust, multi-dimensional and well performed. Unlike many low-budget productions, the movie is refreshingly free of annoying and distracting jiggly- cam shots. It is easy to point out faults. The script relies on a lot of coincidences and leaves several loose ends untied. For a WWE production, there aren't many fight scenes and the fight choreography isn't particularly imaginative. One scene in which Copeland faces off against a couple of dozen opponents is particularly disappointing. It doesn't really have a car chase and there are no explosions. The one big gunfight is staged at night and it's not clear who is who and it's not up to current standards. While the glass seems half empty in some regards, the part that's half full is a pleasant viewing experience.

I'm not a high-brow movie critic by any means. I have my personal niche of movies I tend to enjoy and I'm comfortable with that. I would make a terrible professional critic because I tend to find the good in all things artistic. When I bother to rate movies here, I usually rate them a 5 or better, I don't think I've ever given a 5 rating. I gave this one an 8.The 'co-lead role' actor is a pro-wrestler-turned-actor, but doesn't do a completely horrible job. It's really not difficult to imagine since a pro wrestler is simply acting a role for the most part. So he seems to carry a confidence that most newcomers don't have. His contrast with Jamie Kennedy is really good and there seems to be a good chemistry and blend to make the characters interesting. The plot and story line get a little confusing, lots of sub characters to remember and try to keep up with. But for me this makes the movie more interesting, especially the second or third viewing. You pick up things you missed the first time, and it's like watching a new movie. Some people have very analytical minds and can quickly pick this one apart in no time, so the details are part of the puzzle. In any event, there is enough action and comedy mixed with drama and suspense, it makes for a pretty decent movie overall.Plus... Any movie set in New Orleans is going to be interesting. Add a street-wise, bend-the-rules cop and you have a good foundation for Kennedy's comic relief. It's just a good formula in my opinion.

The launch Vehicle for Adam "The Edge" Copeland blows bad, neither thrilling nor dramatic it just turns out to be another dumb squib from WWE house ; Condemned and Marine were much better ones. With a wafer thin plot-line which unfolds quite dumb straight, it fails to keep us engaged, let alone enthrall us. The saving grace might be those goofy comical scenes with Edge and Jamie albeit many of them were so numby. The mystery did draw our attention at regular intervals which were all hindered by those inane stumbling sub plots which i found rather irritating.I admit, it was a treat to watch Edge with a character persona which really suited him, the stylish mannerisms, the walk and the funny one-liners which were all helped by some good background score, duhhh, but all goes haywire right from the word go. If u a big fan of "The Edge" u might find it watchable, others please don't bother to drop by unless its on TV, and that too if you haven't got anything else on TV!!

I'm not even halfway through this flick and getting so bored that I need to go and get another beer.I'm logging in to give you guys my piece of mind.This "story" is just so confusing and not even worth wasting your time on. What is this? A redneck entertainment? Who wants to hear about the misery of a B-coop loser and a B-lawyer loser in New Oreleans?This is just run of the mill - HBO boring sleeping between the commercials junk.Why do people waste their time making a movie of a novel story that should never be written?I want a refund from Block Buster for a movie that should never hit the shelves!I WANT MY MONEY BACK FOR WASTING MY TIME!B-MOVE B-ACTING B-STORY C-ACTORSBUUUUUUUUHUUUUUU!: (((((by the way - I REALLY hope that the beautiful 50ies car was just a Hollywod decoy. If they destroyed a car like that for this piece of crap movie I'm going to chase down the director!