i have little against remakes and updates of older films and tv series . if there's a will , there's a way ; and i believe that anything , no matter how great or revered can be effectively improved upon . this is the reason that i responded so well to gus van sant's universally panned update of psycho ; i thought it to be not only an intriguing cinematic experience , but also very on-par with an original . but <NEG> i do have a big problem with remakes that are blatantly bad </NEG> . you see , the point of a remake is , or at least it should be , to iron out the original's flaws and bring the work that much closer to greatness or even perfection . but what if the source material on which the remake is based isn't any good to begin with ? that is the only cinematic question pondered by the bland actioner the mod squad . i've only seen a couple episodes of the late 60s tv series on which it is based , and to be honest , i didn't like it all that much . it has a concept that -- and still is -- interesting ; a group of corrupt young adults , all in their early 20s are given a choice : they either go to jail for the various crimes that they all have committed , or they can become undercover cops , helping the police get into places that they normally wouldn't be able to access . obviously , all 3 opt for the latter option and become undercover policemen ( and policewomen ) . the three main characters here are played by claire danes , omar epps and giovanni ribisi . of the three , only danes has a real character . ribisi's <NEG> dumbass 20 year old is played exclusively for laughs </NEG> ; epps' slightly more intelligent one is used to create various chase scenes . when the squad's superviser gets killed off and his reputation dirtied in death , the three of them , sure that their beloved master was framed , go off and investigate on their own , discovering corrupt cops , lots and lots of expensive whores and very lucrative drug operations . all kinds of good stuff ! the only times that the mod squad comes even close to working is in its comedic moments . although ribisi is <NEG> a trite actor </NEG> and his characters repeat movie after movie , his man here is really rather amusing , when the script gives him a chance . epps' straight man is effectively played against ribisi's clueless spontaneity . but <NEG> the rest of the film is dull , boring and singularly uninteresting </NEG> . a drug-op action plot is no longer anything new , not even with teenage action heroes , and the way it's executed here , <NEG> it's also nowhere near exciting or suspenseful </NEG> . claire danes' character has potential , but <NEG> it is buried under heaps of cliches and her performance is too restrained </NEG> . she could have been a tour-de-force , but instead director scott silver puts shackles on her and simply does not allow her to do anything really significant with her role . epps and ribisi fare slightly better and do as well as can be expected , although their characters aren't nearly as rich as danes' could have been . the mod squad is <NEG> a mind-numbing marketing plot of a film </NEG> , and teens will jump all over it . it's <NEG> full of bad dialogue , scenes and concepts that make no sense </NEG> and -- get this -- drug dealers that like to tango with other guys in their spare time . <NEG> nothing is remotely intriguing or worth paying for </NEG> . claire danes is no longer alluring -- mainly because she's got a horrible hairdo , so that draw is out . there are , however , cool explosions , guns and chases which may lure a viewer into thinking that he or she is about to experience an exciting thriller of some sort . do not be fooled . some may call this escapist fare -- i call it escape-as-quickly-as-you-can fare .
