'R.I.P.D.'

The unscreened "R.I.P.D." (PG-13 for violence, sci-fi/fantasy action, sensuality and language including sex references) apparently is not a drama about Rhode Island's finest. By the look of things, it's a "Ghostbusters" version of "Men in Black," with Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds as dead cops who return to the world of the living to track runaway ghosts. Bridges (whose upcoming "Seventh Son" is also a supernatural potboiler) plays a deceased, cantankerous old cuss in the Rooster Cogburn mold. Reynolds is the defunct, wisecracking rookie. Can the pair equal the chemistry between Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith? Or will the film be a shameless ripoff? Dead-on or dead on arrival? Given that Universal repeatedly delayed the movie's release, indications are not promising. We'll run a review online when one becomes available.

Colin Covert