by: S. Scott Stanikmas

Steve Pink, director of the hilarious sleeper hit Hot Tub Time Machine, is set to direct the police comedy Cop Swap.  The movie is based on the real international exchange program that major metropolitan police units across America have with foreign police entities. That’s where the similarities end. The movie is about an ensemble of foreign police officers, all misfits in their native lands. Under the tutelage of their LAPD assigned “babysitter” they stumble upon a major crime – and quite possibly a way to show everyone that there not as inept as everyone thinks *wink, wink*.

The movie practically writes itself. But its Pink’s and writing partner Jeff Morris’ humor that will set this apart from being another clichéd piece of garbage. Pink knows comedy, having writing credits on Grosse Pointe Blank and High Fidelity, two of John Cusack’s funniest movies. I’ve got faith that these two can create something that breaks away from the pack and not make something that everyone automatically compares to the Police Academy movies. I enjoyed Pink’s directorial work on Accepted and Hot Tub Time Machine. I can see him taking a premise like this and putting a fun twist on it.

Deadline reports that the writing duo has been highly sought after as of late and every major studio wanted a shot at making this. Pink and Morris were going to shop this around two studios at a time, starting with Fox and Lionsgate, and let the bidding was begin. But apparently after chatter between execs from Lionsgate and MGM, MGM aggressively offered a deal for the film, stifling the bidding war before most other studios got wind of the project.