Étroite surveillance

This is a forumulaic buddy movie, but it works. Madeleine Stowe is just wonderful. Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez also work very well. With good supporting acting all around, this movie works, when normally I would be rolling my eyes.

Good acting and some very good one-liner writing make what could have been a bad movie (like "Another Stakeout") and enjoyable experience. I recommend it for some good-hearted fun.

For a film which reached number 1 at the US box office and earned enough movie for the studio to green-light a sequel, Stakeout has strangely enough become a forgotten 80s gem.

The story is simple, officers Lecce (Richard Dreyfuss) and and Reimers (Emilio Estevez) are assigned to a stakeout of the house of waitress Maguire (Madeleine Stowe), hoping that her fugitive ex-boyfriend (Aidan Quinn) will return to her house. Things soon take a bizarre twist, as Lecce, posing as a telephone repairman, and Maguire start to fall in love.

Although the film offers no originality and is riddled with clichés, it is very entertaining. Although it runs for nearly two hours, it thankfully doesn't feel that long and the story keeps you interested all the way. Richard Dreyfus and Emilio Estevez are quality comedians, somewhat surprisingly in my opinion. Their jokes and banter make the comedy part of this film work well.

The thriller elements are good too, Aidan Quinn does a good job making his character look like a real bad-ass, and the film's action sequences are really solid pre-cgi-stuff. I was especially impressed by the car chase, which looks really good.

Overall, this is pure solid 80s entertainment and I think this film deserves to be remembered and watched. I think it is equally good as many other 80s action classics like "48 hours" for example. Recommended!

I think this is one of the under-appreciated movies from the 1980s. It blends realistic action and comedy well, without taking itself too seriously. I agree with reviewers that Dreyfuss in this movie proves he was very good at comedy movies if they were written well, like this was. And Aidan Quinn is very good also (in fact, from "Desperately Seeking Susan" in 1985, to "Stakeout," to 1994's "Legends of the Fall" he has consistently given reliably good performances). For a late 1980s movie, it has aged fairly well. It's almost hard to believe that this movie came out only two years after Estevez was in "The Breakfast Club." I wish there were more movies like this that blended action and comedy as well as "Stakeout" did.

"Buddy Cop" movies were all the rage in the 80s, and 'Stakeout' is filled to bursting with the genre's clichés. But the fresh titular premise and charming performances by, and great chemistry between, stars Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez help to lift it above the fay and make it feel fresh. Oh, and then there's Madeline Stowe. My God, Madeline Stowe. She is just... wow. But, she also gives a really nice performance here, and she and Dreyfuss make for a strangely good screen couple.

'Stakeout' is a breezy, fun and subtly clever action/comedy (emphasis on the "comedy"). It's not groundbreaking, but it is solid entertainment for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Stakeout is one of those movies that makes you wish you owned a time machine. Not only does Stakeout capture the magic of the '80s, it also brings forth a world many of us miss, and does so in a way that not many movies of that era managed to do. What is so great about this movie is that you always feel you are part of it somehow. You are right there with Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez, almost like you are their invisible partner. That's how good those two are. You will laugh and feel the excitement until the very last minute. To me, Stakeout is a feel good machine that leaves a strong impression on anyone who misses the era it was made in.

P.S. How beautiful was Madeleine Stowe?