Um Policial em Apuros

Ray Pluto (Denis Leary) is a detective with a problem due to the lost of his wife and daughter. One day, he is in a fast food place, and due to a pain in his back, he is not able to avoid a massive murderer of six persons. A young boy uses his gun and kills the killer. He becomes a loser in the eyes of the police force and the public opinion and his partner (Steve Buscemi) convinces him to have a session with a chiropractor (Dr. Ann Beamer - the gorgeous and sexy Elizabeth Hurley). A complicated romance between them will grow. Meanwhile, at least two other plots happen, involving detective Pluto and other odd characters.

This movie is not totally bad, but it is impossible to label the genre. The screenplays 'shot ' everywhere: black comedy, drama, romance, and action, all of it mixed together. The result is very irregular, and there are parts enjoyable, other that could be skipped, other not resolved. It deserves to be watched at least once and is indicated for fans of the delicious Elizabeth Hurley, maybe. My vote is six.

Title(Brazil): "Um Policial em Apuros" ("A Policeman in Trouble")

Just saw the film and I enjoyed how the layers were pulled back one at a time, until all the links were shown. I originally thought the unique characters of Cletis and Duke were there just to add flavor, but then they turned out to be more vital. And the understated approach of not stating outright that Jo Jo and Ping Pong were being hired to kill "Papi" left me feeling that the movie did not take our intelligence for granted, but assumed that the viewer is smart enough to figure it out. Denis Leary is funny, but I liked the supporting cast just as much. Without them, this funny comedy would have been pretty flat.

Oh, and what is with Duke looking and sounding like Vanilla Ice?? Even to the shaved eyebrows and the slicked up hair :)

Ray (Leary) is a bad-luck detective with a bad back, Buscemi is his gay partner who convinces him to have it fixed by Elizabeth Hurley. You would've thought that a flick with Denis Leary, Steve Buscemi, & Luis Guzman would have to be good right? Well i thought so too. There are good Denis Leary movie & there are bad. The good are pretty damn good (The Ref, Final, Wag the Dog, etc..) The bad are pretty damn bad (Two if by Sea, The Matchmaker, Jesus' Son, etc...). This movie with it's undeveloped, unfunny characters can be sadly filed under the latter.

My Grade: D

Where I saw it: Showtime

Now let me start off by saying this film ever won't win any awards. That said, I did find it surprisingly enjoyable, especially after reading so many negative reviews. It is kind of a Tarantino lite, with an urban setting, quirky characters, cartoon violence, irregular dialogue and strange plot twists. If you are a fan of films with a traditional narrative, this is not the movie for you. However, if you are a fan of Denis Leary (not unlike Tommy Gavin here) and you are a fan of black comedy, you might like this. It's one of Decillo's lesser works, but it's still more charming than what you might find at the Multiplex. I was rarely bored, and i had a few good chuckles, that's all i ask of a late night cable film. So give it a chance.

I was surprised last night when I saw the poster for this one at Blockbuster. Being a big Steve Buscemi fan, I try to keep up on his work but I must have missed this one somewhere. Denis Leary and Elizabeth Hurley were also top-billed so I decided to take it home. Once it was all said and done, I had gotten pretty much what I had expected: An offbeat comedy with quirky characters and some unexpected touches of heart. I can't say I care much for the title, but the movie does make for a pretty entertaining 90 minutes.

Denis Leary plays the somewhat burnt-out detective, Ray Pluto, who has just failed to stop a big shooting from going down at a local fast food joint. It's a mess, to say the least, and it doesn't help that the crime was stopped by a dorky seven year old kid with coke bottle glasses. This disgrace, and a bad back problem (which was the cause for the said fast food incident) has forced him to take a little time off, where he meets up with a sexy chiropractor played by none other than Liz Hurley.

Meanwhile, we meet the Superintendent of Ray's apartment building (Luis Guzman who's great as ever), the super's teenage daughter, a couple of identically dressed, bumbling screenwriters, and a couple of crooks who are even dumber. Since the whole thing moves at a nice leisurely pace, we learn that Ray is not the luckiest guy in the world. He recently lost his wife and son in a horrible accident and his big pleasure is to smoke pot and watch aerobic videos. His partner, Jerry (Buscemi) is having problems concerning his sexuality and the case that he was on has just been assigned to another detective. Not only does he have a recent tragedy to deal with, but also a bad back and a ruined reputation to restore.

While watching all of the fun characters, you can be sure that they will all cross paths sooner or later, and somehow, everything will tie together in the end. I had a fun time with this one and surprisingly, one particularly emotional scene near the end, brought a tear to my eye. That's very surprising for a movie like this. If you're not a fan of the actors or the genre, then you may have a hard time with it, but if oddball characters are your thing, then you'll be right at home. 8/10