shoobe01-1 Not as bad as the reputation it has. Sorta odd in the mediocre movie genre really, as it's got entirely good and sometimes very good acting (Giovanni Ribisi is a standout but even many supporting characters are great) with dialogue mostly written to back them up. Good photography, good editing, quite good music and sound editing. But the overall story is a bit thin. Every bad guy has to have an Expository Meeting when the good guys are around, and the cops-or-informants thing was annoyingly vague for something that is at least 20% a police procedural. The whole Mod Squad thing also was mostly pointless. Either should have been free-standing or made into a period piece.

capone666 The Mod SquadThe worst part about employing young undercover cops is they binge drink at house parties and break cover.Thankfully, the covert trio in this action movie are too busy tracking a killer to attend ragers.Opting to work for the police in a new department instead of serving time, Julie (Claire Danes), Pete (Giovanni Ribisi) and Linc (Omar Epps) are trained in the art of infiltration by their mentor Capt. Greer (Dennis Farina).But when Greer ends up on the wrong side of a drug lord's gun, the motley crew must bring his killer to justice.A slapdash adaptation of the groundbreaking counterculture cop drama from the '60s, this 1999 version lacks the social and political undercurrent of its source material. Instead, it's a lifeless and shoddily acted knock-off - similar to the original in name only.Besides, immature undercover officers today can't stop posting on Twitter about being undercover. Red Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

wes-connors The DVD sleeve explains the premise: "Three problem teens are headed for jail," and are "set to do time until Captain Greer offers them a deal to work for him - undercover." The film opens with definitions of the words "Mod" and "Squad", so you won't have to look them up in the dictionary. For a visual definition of "Cool", search for photographs of the original threesome: Michael Cole (as Pete Cochran), Clarence Williams III (as Linc Hayes), and Peggy Lipton (as Julie Barnes). One black. One white. One blonde. Once they defined cool.The three who make up Scott Silver's version of Aaron Spelling's "The Mod Squad" are twentysomethings: Claire Danes (as Julie Barnes), Giovanni Ribisi (as Pete Cochran), and Omar Epps (as Linc Hayes). They aren't able to do much with the material given. Mr. Ribisi's portrayal is the most "far out", meaning he digresses most from the original characterization. Ms. Danes romances Josh Brolin (as Billy Waites), who looks like he could be in a re-make of "Marcus Welby, MD". You won't believe hefty Michael Lerner dancing with Mr. Epps' "Linc". He explains, "I'm not a fairy, I just like to dance!" and requests, "Spin me!" *** The Mod Squad (1999) Scott Silver ~ Claire Danes, Giovanni Ribisi, Omar Epps

MovieAddict2016 60s and 70s television show remakes are everywhere. "Charlie's Angels" and "Starsky and Hutch" are just two of the more profitable franchises (the latter of the two bringing in $28 million in its first week). But both of those series tend to have fun with what they're parodying, rather than remaking. "The Mod Squad" is basically just a remake of the show of the same title, minus any real sort of substance and humor, and only a low amount of actual fun. It could have been a blast, but it's just rather mediocre.Three young delinquents (Claire Danes, Giovanni Ribisi and Omar Epps) are recruited by a cop (Dennis Farina) to infiltrate many various operations (prostitute rings, drug circles) that police could never get into. But after their boss is murdered and they uncover a conspiracy, the three delinquents take it upon themselves to find out the truth behind the crime.2.5/5 stars.John UlmerThe plot is pretty weak, even for a 60s TV show remake. "The Mod Squad" ran from 1968 - 1973, with somewhere in the vicinity of 120 episodes. I never saw any, but I can't imagine this film adaptation does the show much justice.The cast is considerably OK. Danes is quite enthusiastic and pretty enough for her sweet-blonde role, Ribisi is fine as a criminal and Epps is decent enough, too. Farina ("Get Shorty," "Another Stakeout") is a good actor, always very funny, but here his role is completely wasted (literally!) and short on the sort of sly humor that would have been appropriate given the actor behind it. The dialogue is really corny, and so are the characters' actions. Television shows need not worry about smart dialogue or characters, because they're usually 30 minutes long (sometimes an hour), and we just get "hooked" on what's going on. Can you imagine if a soap opera made its way onto the big screen? It'd completely flop. People watch television shows because they like to see continuous stories with recurring characters they learn to love over a certain time period.You can't get any joy out of watching a bunch of actors try to grow on you for 90 minutes. If "Alias" had ever started out as a big-screen movie, it might have flopped, because let's face it: the show is not exactly quality material. People watch it because they get hooked on it, and they enjoy watching the stories and the revelations, like an old woman addicted to her "General Hospital" episodes.So here's proof that if "The Mod Squad" had originally been a movie, there probably would have been no television show. Despite some rather bad word-of-mouth, this movie isn't a terrible one. I've seen much worse, and compared to big-screen disasters like "Freddy Got Fingered," or low-budget ones like "The Blade Master," this is nothing very laughable at all.But compared to the fun factor of "Charlie's Angels" or "Starsky and Hutch," "The Mod Squad" falls flat on its face. It's not very funny, it's not very fun, and it's not very original. It's a cash-in, which is something Hollywood is not in short supply of right now. If you miss "The Mod Squad," you're not missing anything that hasn't been done before.