The Mod Squad (film)

The Mod Squad is a 1999 American action thriller film directed by Scott Silver, and starring Claire Danes, Omar Epps and Giovanni Ribisi. Based on the television show of the same name, actors Peggy Lipton and Clarence Williams III (Julie and Linc in the series) make cameo appearances.

Released by Metro Goldwyn Mayer on March 26, 1999, it was panned by critics and was a box office bomb, grossing only $15.4 million out of its $21 million budget.

Julie Barnes, Pete Cochran and Lincoln Hayes are three minor delinquents who choose to become undercover cops in place of serving their jail terms. When their superior Capt. Adam Greer is murdered, the trio set out to find the real culprits. Before his death, Greer was investigating the theft of cocaine from a police evidence locker. Julie bumps into an old boyfriend, Billy, who turns out to be running a prostitution ring and is trying to get into drug dealing. The trio learn that Billy is working for Greer's police colleague, Mothershead, who is leading a squad of dirty cops responsible for the drug theft and murders – including Greer's.

In April 1997, it was announced MGM was moving forward with a film adaptation of The Mod Squad with Stacy Title initially set to direct.^[4] In July of that year, it was reported Tobey Maguire was in negotiations to star in the film.^[5] By August of that year, Title had left the project due to creative differences with producers and Scott Silver took over the position of director and would also rewrite the script.^[6] In March 1998, it was reported Claire Danes had signed on as one of the three leads with Giovanni Ribisi and Omar Epps filling out the leads later that same month.^[7][8][9]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 3% of 63 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "The Mod Squad aims for stylish cool and thrilling adventure, but collapses in an incoherent jumble of dated source material and unintentional hilarity."^[10] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 16 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".^[11] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C−" on an A+ to F scale.^[12]

The film was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Screenplay, but lost out to another television show turned movie: Wild Wild West. At the 1999 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film was nominated for four awards: Worst Picture, Worst Actress (Danes), Worst Supporting Actor (Ribisi), and Worst Resurrection of a TV Show.

In April 1998, it was reported Richard Ruskin, son of credited The Mod Squad creator Bud "Buddy" Ruskin, had filed suit against Spelling Television and MGM alleging that executive producer Aaron Spelling never legally purchased the film rights to the series which Ruskin claimed were "separated rights" owned by his late father.^[13] Ruskin further claimed Spelling, via the William Morris Agency, told Ruskin he was not entitled to monetary compensation and alleged he was forced into quitclaim of $7,500 when The Mod Squad should be worth millions.^[13]

• The Mod Squad at IMDb 
• The Mod Squad at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• The Mod Squad at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Mod Squad at Metacritic