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"Rescue Me" was one of Cannon Pictures' last movies to get a theatrical release. It was a small and low key release, and upon seeing the movie it's easy to see why Cannon didn't give it much of a push. To be certain, it's not a complete waste of time. All of the cast, from leads Michael Dudikoff and Stephen Dorff, give appealing and likable performances. And for what had to be a low budget, the movie looks pretty good thanks to some expert cinematography and some well chosen locations. However, the movie all the same is more often than not a somewhat hard slog. Some plot details and character development seem to be missing, whether it was edited out or simply missing from Mike Snyder's screenplay in the first place. And while the movie was made in the 1990s, it has an odd 1980s feel, from the music to the clothing. The biggest problem, however, is that there is very little spark. The movie moves at a sluggish pace throughout, and this slow feeling also extends to the scenes of comedy and action; the comedy (though thankfully not strident and in-your-face) is lame, and the action sequences simply aren't exciting (or well accomplished) at all. It's too bad the movie doesn't work as a whole, because it had a pretty good and original premise. Remake, anyone?

The underlying premise of Rescue Me is the often proved notion that the adolescent male will do just about anything to win the affections of the female of the species. Post puberty is one dangerous age, some of us actually never grow out of it.

Stephen Dorff is this gawky 16 something who wants more than anything to win cheerleader Ami Dolenz. But in the pecking order of high school she's the property of jock Danny Nucci and he's the jealous type. But when a pair of dangerous, but not terribly bright criminals kidnap Dolenz to get ransom from her rich daddy, it's Dorff to the rescue, aided and abetted by former Green Beret Michael Dudikoff.

In this comedy, that doesn't quite click all the time, the best acting is done by the crooks William Lucking and Peter DeLuise. DeLuise especially is a whole suit short of a full deck. Good thing he's so dumb or Dorff would have been dead meat. As it is he's got to be pulled from harm's way several times by Dudikoff.

Rescue Me is your typical teen comedy that with the presence of action star Michael Dudikoff tries to expand a bit the normal audience for such things. You've got to have a juvenile mind to truly enjoy Rescue Me.

Red alert from the first frame of the titles: Fraser (Dorff) and the cheerleader he's after in lengthy shower scenes. It's so exploitive, it's obvious the studio decided "well, this picture's a turd, throw in some young skin." Though the amount of Dorff's armpit you see nearly defies belief. Also, Dorff looks somehow strange in this movie. Maybe his eyebrows are too plucked/defined?

Kind of seems like they had a possibly decent movie here, and some of it clicks in the buddy buddy area, but even that comes off half baked. Partly, it seems unlikely Dorff's character is still a virgin, but the bigger problem is it seems like they're missing half the story or something. Maybe they ran out of money and didn't shoot numerous scenes? They go for a lot of depth in the buddy buddy stuff, far beyond what's justified by what we see. And Fraser breaks down crying when he sees the ocean? Why now?

Mac waking up to Fraser firing his pistol is kind of funny.

The kidnappers and their motives? Uh, whatever.

The movie looks pretty good- they picked some great locations.

Actually, after reading another review where they saw it when they were a young teen and liked it, it could be you have to see it pretty young. Some movies like Stand By Me or what have you may hold appeal to younger and older audiences, but some don't.

That is, the half with Steven Dorff. The half with the crooks is badly discordant with the other. It's basically slapstick kidnapping and feels very uncomfortable when it veers close to rape-y.

I guess that sometimes works- Fargo basically had a similar structure. Doesn't work here though.

But the Dorff half is pretty good. It's a bit half baked. Seems like they could have just had Dorff be a photographer without the stalker angle.

Dorff *very* strongly evokes River Phoenix to me. Vaguely in appearance, but definitely in his mannerisms and voice. If I'm not looking at the screen, I keep thinking it is Phoenix talking.

It's all so strong, I wonder if they had the same acting training/coaches. Or perhaps since Dorff was three years younger than Phoenix, Dorff was patterning himself after Phoenix.

Michael Dudikoff stars as Mac, a Vietnam vet(Isn't Mikey Dudikoff too young to be a Vietnam vet?) who is blackmailed by a high school nerd(Dorff) to help track down the kidnapped girl of his dreams (Ami Dolenz) in this low budget effort. I remember actually seeing previews for this on late night TV, naturally this didn't do all that well in theaters. I think the problem is that Rescue Me often times feels like a sitcom rather than an action/comedy. There are some moments between Dudikoff and Dorff but mainly any depth is betrayed by the mindless antics here.

*1/2 out of 4-(Poor)