DVD Review: Minoru Kawasaki's THE RUG COP

Minoru Kawasaki's The Rug Cop (Zura Deka), which is now available on English-subtitled DVD from Synapse Films, is a seriously fun homage to Japanese cop shows from the 70s. Officer Genda (Fuyuki Moto) is a rebellious police man with a somber heart and a secret weapon: a flying toupee. Bounced from station to station by the upper brass, he ends up with a group of abnormal detectives with names such as as Shorty, Fatty, Big Dick, the Old Man, and Mr. Handsome. Genda, known as "Rug Cop," leads the group in the investigation of a nuclear terrorist ring. As the team digs deeper into the criminal enterprise, Genda is forced to confront painful (and occasionally humorous) elements of his past.

One does not need to know anything about Japanese cop shows to enjoy The Rug Cop. The visual gags, one-liners and puns will immediately trigger laughs or shudders. Some of the humor is skewed towards adult sensibilities (e.g. the Big Dick stuff) but for the most part, the film eschews schadenfreude and vulgarity. In fact, when compared to much of the comedy coming out of Japan and elsewhere, The Rug Cop is surprisingly lighthearted. Kawasaki shows that there is still a place for silly surrealism in comedy. Anyone with an affinity for either Japanese comedy or weird comedy in general should definitely seek out The Rug Cop.