Rent-a-Cop : Assistance à femme en danger

I had actually never heard about this 1987 movie from director Jerry London prior to sitting down here in 2024 to watch it for the very first time. I happened to stumble upon the movie by random chance, and seeing that it had Burt Reynolds in the lead, of course I opted to sit down and watch it.

Writers Michael Blodgett and Dennis Shryack put together an enjoyable script. The movie proved to be entertaining and enjoyable, without being an archetypical cheesy late 1980s movie. The movie is a combination of crime, action and comedy, with the latter being found in light moderation, thankfully. The comedy in the movie helped lighten the mood and spruce things up, so it was an enjoyable light-hearted action crime movie with a pinch of comedy, if you will.

The cast ensemble in "Rent-a-Cop" is pretty good, with the likes of Burt Reynolds, Liza Minnelli, James Remar, Bernie Casey, Richard Masur, Dionne Warwick and others, so you definitely have some familiar faces on the screen. The acting performances were good, and there was a good chemistry between leading actor Burt Reynolds and leading actress Liza Minnelli.

I found it well-worth taking 96 minutes to sit down and watch "Rent-a-Cop", because it was an enjoyable movie.

My rating of director Jerry London's 1987 movie "Rent-a-Cop" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Well I was entertained. I like it. Sue me! I'm not saying it's art but it's an enjoyable time-passer of a movie. I'm not sure if I would call it a romantic comedy since there's a lot of violence and dark parts but there is comedy and there is romance so...yeah. Seems like most Burt Reynolds movies I like are the ones most people hate and the ones most people like I don't care much for. Anyway Burt isn't even the best part here. The best part is Liza Minnelli, who I'm not normally a fan of but she's good here. Also James Remar's psycho villain has some memorable scenes.

I have been on a big Burt Reynolds kick as late. Rent A Cop is one I have not seen, but heard was bad. Unfortunately for me, the reports that I got previously are accurate. Rent A Cop has a mismatched duo of Burt Reynolds and Lizza Minnelli in a annoying kind of buddy cop movie with action, romance, basically throwing anything together and hoping it sticks. Every cliche imaginable is played to the hilt. It does have a good cast with Bernie Casey as one of Burt's cop buddies and James Remar as main villain and psychopath. There even is a cameo by Michael Rooker. All of this is wasted on a pointless crap movie.

I love the music score, the relaxed jokes and the expected turns in the story. I have no idea how it did in 1987, but it is among my favorite cop comedies from the period. A little rip of off Beverly Hills Cop but I'm able to forgive them. It is among those I go back to watch again when I have forgotten it.

The worst thing about it is the villains. None of them go down in history. No special features to mention on the DVD I got, which is crappy. However, I believe they could have created a lasting DVD audience if they had invested a little in the extra quality features.

You can probably drop buying it if you're not likely to enjoy the genre, Minelli or Reynolds. If you can rent/borrow it cheap and are able to enjoy simple action/comedy from the eighties then pop the corn, relax and enjoy.

Motorcycle helmet-wearing psycho thwarts a hotel drug bust by the Chicago police force, leaving several cops dead plus $2M of the department's money and three keys of smack missing. Seasoned vet Burt Reynolds is the only one to survive the ambush--he and chatty hooker Liza Minnelli, who was with a trick that night after getting a good look at the killer sans helmet. Not exactly sophisticated, but a reasonably entertaining action-thriller with comedic and romantic asides. Reynolds and Minnelli are too old for their roles, but Liza at least gives her all (she "won" a Razzie Award for this performance, but she's a comfortable match for her aging co-star--she keeps his head up). James Remar is an interesting villain (a fired cop and former ballroom dancing instructor who reeks of liniment!), but Dionne Warwick as a madam, Robby Benson as a rookie, and Richard Masur as a dirty ex-cop (speaking with a ridiculous nasal voice) are all pretty bad. Chicago locations were used, but most of the movie was shot in Italy (hence all the Italian names in the end credits). If a you're a fan of the stars, this could rate as a guilty pleasure, although there's nothing cheesy about Jerry Goldsmith's fine score or Giuseppe Rotunno's sharp cinematography (which includes a wonderful opening shot flying over the city). **1/2 from ****