Having set records such as his 12 WWE Tag Team Championships and seven World Heavyweight Championships in WWE, Adam “Edge” Copeland is clearly deserving of his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame this WrestleMania weekend. And with his unexpected retirement from wrestling less than a year ago, it’s only fitting that Edge take his charisma to the big screen as peers such as The Rock, John Cena, Triple H and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin have done before him.
Nick Blades (Edge) and Theo Gold (Jamie Kennedy) team up in "Bending the Rules"
Edge makes his leading role debut in the new WWE Studios movie Bending the Rules, in select theaters today and on DVD and Blu-ray March 27. In this comedy cop caper, Edge plays Nick Blades, a New Orleans cop known for bending the rules to get the job done. Jamie Kennedy is Theo Gold, the down-on-his-luck District Attorney on the opposing side of the courtroom. In what is supposed to be a comical twist of fate, these two opposing forces become an odd couple who, despite their differing motivations and methods, are determined to get to the bottom of some sort of crime racket.
See, there’s this list of license plate numbers and someone is going down that list and taking out the owners of the vehicles. Somehow Gold’s beloved 1956 Studebaker Silver Hawk comes up missing, presumably because it is on this list. Blades hangs out with Gold’s mom (played by Jessica Walter, who is basically reprising her overbearing and self-entitled mother role from Arrested Development), Gold’s assistant (Alicia Witt) gets kidnapped, some gunfights break out and funniness fails to ensue.
It’s not that Bending the Rules is a bad movie. It’s just that it’s also not that great. Edge is basically playing Edge, but for some reason the charisma he portrays when talking to in-ring opponents doesn’t come across very well here. Jennifer Esposito plays his friend on the force, and she looks damn good in that blue uniform. But for some reason all of these ingredients don’t seem to gel, perhaps because Bending the Rules follows the rules of an action comedy too lazily. There is an attempt at a surprise twist at the end of the movie, but by that point it’s hard to even care about anything that’s happening anymore. And ironically, the Rated R Superstar only got a PG-13 rating.
Bending the Rules. Directed by Artie Mandelberg. Starring Adam “Edge” Copeland, Jamie Kennedy, Jennifer Esposito and Jessica Walter. Rated PG-13. www.bendingtherulesmovie.com.