Downtown

Here is another of my personal favourites 80's comedies. A solid production with a marvellous Anthony Edwards and a bad-ass Forest Whitaker. Lots of the scenes have an unique Choreography.

A good surprise for 80's fans!!

"Downtown" is a box office crash & burn from 1990. Basically it is yet another unsuccessful attempt to follow-up on the success of "Beverly Hills Cop" (without the benefit of Eddie Murphy). These inter-racial, buddy picture, cop movie, comedy-action features simply don't work without a talented comic and Anthony Edwards of "Revenge of the Nerds" fame is only mildly funny. Add to this a more serious group of themes than Murphy had to deal with and the incongruity of mixing these conflicting genres makes the whole a lot less than the sum of its parts.

Yet "Downtown" is more entertaining than its "bomb at the box office" reputation would lead you to believe. The production design, filming, and editing are first class. Although the action scenes are unconvincing, this is due more to lamely inserted comedy elements than cheap staging.

Much is genuinely embarrassing such as when a PCP abuser holds a little girl hostage, with a gun to her head, and the subtext lamely plays the scene for laughs. What genius thought that scene would work? And they wonder why these things lose money? In this exercise in schizoid film-making, Anthony Edwards and Forest Whitaker are the standard odd couple partnering up to solve the murder of Edwards' former partner. Nerd boy Alex (Edwards) in his worst scenes listens to Beach Boys music and in his best scenes is paired with his girlfriend (Penelope Ann Miller).

Alex is a suburban patrolman who has been banished to the worst downtown Philly division because of a confrontation with a slimy bigwig (unconvincingly overplayed by David Clennon). Dennis (Whitaker) is a detective with a lot of baggage that makes it difficult for him to warm up to Alex.

But Alex and Dennis eventually bond (big surprise) and Whitaker turns in a pretty good performance (much too good for this material). Whitaker and Miller assist the marginally talented but generally likable Edwards enough that it is possible for the average viewer to suspend disbelief most of the time and actually get into the story. Just be prepared for a lot of extremely lame moments that would have been more entertaining had the editor relegated them to his deleted scenes bin.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Simply a boisterous, if run-of-the-mill buddy cop action comedy that won't offer much in a way of surprises, but delivers a good amount of laughs, action, "Beach Boys" tunes and actor chemistry between Anthony Edwards and Forest Whitaker as two mismatched cops. One that is a rookie, by-the-book civil officer compared to the other who's a rogue, street-smart cop who does anything to get the job done. This wouldn't have been the first time these guys shared the screen, as Edwards and Whitaker had worked with each other in the classic 1982 teen comedy "Fast times in Ridgemont High". The plot follows that of a idealistic young rookie cop Kearny of a rich, peaceful suburb taking a transfer to downtown; Diamond street the most brutal and crime-ridden district. When his ex-police partner is brutally murdered in the area, he goes about trying to get those responsible but he will need the help of a detective Curren who knows how to get around this neighbourhood. Director Richard Benjamin provides many chaotic situations, clichéd but amusing and surprisingly brutal at times with its war zone like feel etched out from its urban settings. The bad guys here really do earn their strips. David Clennon is perfectly smug and showy as a rich, important community figure and Joe Pantoliano is effective as the ruthlessly psychotic hired killer who goes out in a very memorable manner. But where the amusement arises is the constant clashes between Edwards and Whitaker. Also showing up is Penelope Ann Millar, Ricky Aiello, Art Evans and Roger Aaron Brown. Generic, but still a fine addition to the fold.

"See I have this problem with authority".

I had been eying this movie for a while in cheap DVD bins but didn't think I would risk spending all the money I had in my pocket at the time on it. Luckily I found it at a video library so decided to check it out.

Forest Whitaker did a good job acting in this one. He's a skilled actor. He's been in a lot of movies I've seen but I didn't know it was him at the time because he wasn't one of the main characters so I couldn't pick him in the credits.

It is a good blend of action and comedy. There are some exciting chase scenes and good jokes.

Overall I thought it probably isn't worth all the money I had in my pocket at the time but is still worth a rent. It is a good buddy cop movie, any fans of the Lethal Weapon series will probably find this enjoyable.

This is a good movie, it looks and sounds good, has good action and acting, good characters and story... it's a good movie. But, it's not a standout movie. It's too much like the movies that paved the way towards this being made. It's Beverly Hills Cop, Lethal Weapon, and 48hrs. It's a buddy cop, fish outta water, and culture clash. It has the loud police chief, the reluctant partner, and the class divide. It's an action, thriller, and comedy. Sometimes serious, sometimes not. The problem is it doesn't reach anywhere near the heights of any of its predecessors, and it actually struggles to pull everything together. The balance of comedy and thriller is just off, it's goofy one moment and throat-slashing serious the next. Edwards and Whitaker are both good actors, but neither one is funny enough to carry the humor or convincing enough when the guns come out. It's not a classic but, it's a good movie.