Film Reviews

Posted: Sun., Dec. 31, 1989, 11:00pm PT

Loose Cannons

Tri-Star. Director Bob Clark; Producer Aaron Spelling, Alan Greisman; Screenplay Richard Christian Matheson, Richard Matheson, Bob Clark; Camera Reginald H. Morris; Editor Stan Cole; Music Paul Zaza; Art Director Harry Pottle
Gene Hackman Dan Aykroyd Dom DeLuise Ronny Cox Nancy Travis Paul Koslo
Dan Aykroyd's dexterous multipersonality schtick is the only redeeming feature of this chase-heavy comedy, up on the homevid heap.

Director Bob Clark manages to make his low-brow comedy Porky's look like Amadeus with this latest salvo into the police-buddy genre, while Gene Hackman continues his befuddling penchant for sprinkling his overflowing resume with shameful losers.

Loose Cannons may be best remembered for its unbelievably convoluted screenplay - a concoction of elements from Lethal Weapon 2, Midnight Run and Beverly Hills Cop, all played at the speed of Warner Bros cartoon.

Plot involves gruesome murders, a secret 45-year-old porno film, a candidate for the chancellorship of West Germany and a horde of Uzi-brandishing neo-Nazis. All of that is irrelevant to the main plot, which pairs the gruff Mac (Hackman) with the Sybil-like Ellis (Aykroyd) - recently (and apparently prematurely) reactivated by his police-captain uncle after suffering a nervous breakdown that causes him to lapse into multiple personalities.

(Color) Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1990. Running time: 93 MIN.

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