Indiscrétion assurée

Hired killer Tony Castellano (Miguel Ferrer) blows up a safe house barely missing mob case witness Lu Delano (Cathy Moriarty). Chris Lecce (Richard Dreyfuss) and Bill Reimers (Emilio Estevez) are assigned to the D.A. office. They stakeout a house with Gina Garrett (Rosie O'Donnell) and her dog. The cover story is that Gina is Chris' 2nd wife and Bill is his son. Maria McGuire (Madeleine Stowe) breaks up with Chris for not getting married. D.A. Thomas Hassrick is actually working for the mobster. The trio is staking out Brian (Dennis Farina) and Pam O'Hara (Marcia Strassman) in the house next door.

The original has some fun with this odd buddy cop duo. Adding Rosie drains whatever fun there is in this franchise. I don't see the point of adding a third. She's a wet blanket. It's a lot of bickering between the three and most of it is annoying. This is not much fun.

When a witness against the Mafia goes missing Chris and Bill are sent to stakeout a place where she may turn up. However this time they're joined by Agent Gina Garrett and her dog. Despite their childish behaviour things will soon turn serious for the cops.

The first film was light, silly, unlikely but quite enjoyable and this one continues in a similar vein – albeit less successfully. The main failing is that the plot is the same as the first one and hence feels less fresh. On top of that we have cliché on top of cliché to add to the stale feel. The film is so desperate to repeat the first one that we even get Stowe roped back in on the side. The jokes are pretty tired and the action is quite tame overall the end result is not terrible but mediocre.

Dreyfuss and Estevez had good fun in the first film but here they look like they're collecting the cheque. They are still OK but you can see they're going through the motions a bit. O'Donnell should be sentenced to daytime TV forever – how can one person be so very brash and annoying? She sucks any lightness out of this film and is really irritating. Farina is good as is Moriarty (but it's a long cry from Raging Bull isn't it?), Ferrer turns in yet another bad guy role and is always value.

Overall this is barely entertaining. It doesn't feel fresh and this cheapens it – the fact that the comedy is weak and that O'Donnell is like a curse from Hell makes it even worse. Stick with the first film – it's not a masterpiece but at least it's got energy.

Having just seen "Another Stakeout" for the first time since 1995, I decided to check out the online info about the locations that were used in the movie and, so far, haven't seen any credit given for the island off the BC coast where most of the filming was done. It was filmed on beautiful Bowen Island, a 15 minute ferry trip from Horseshoe Bay, just to the northwest of Vancouver. The initial scenes involving driving off the ferry were done in Snug Cove (they substituted the name 'Bainbridge Island'), and most of the exterior and interior shots were on the south side of the island in an area called Fairweather where, as you saw or will see in the film, the homes are gorgeous and perfectly suited for the plot (however meager you thought it to be). I've seen a number of comments about the filming having been done on an island in Puget Sound. A lot was shot in Seattle, but the majority was on Bowen Island - I should know - I was living there at the time. Just thought I'd set the record straight. (You can see the homes used for filming clearly on Google Earth, if you're interested.)

Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez are back on stakeout duty, six years after the original 80's classic "Stakeout" This time though the magic is missing for what I believe is two core reasons.

The first is, this movie does not focus on the natural chemistry between Dreyfuss and Estevez that made the first movie so enjoyable. instead they are teamed up with Rosie O'Donnell. The introduction of Joe Pesci in "Lethal Weapon 2" was great because he thereby became the Third Stooge, and the trio worked well. Unfortunately Estevez is pretty much relegated to supporting character and it becomes the Dreyfuss & O'Donnell show. I'm not saying it is O'Donnell's fault she is OK, and does the best with what she has.

I mention "Lethal Weapon" because the first movie in that franchise was released the same year as "Stakeout" and it's sequel followed two years later. If this movie was made two years after the original, we would have gotten a movie more in tone with the gritty at times, yet funny original. As it is we get a watered down PG version. And that I believe is the second problem.

The first movie had violence, language, nudity, and humour. This has O'Donnell and her naughty dog chasing cats. I'm not saying a movie has to be rated R to be funny. But if you've got a sequel to a classic buddy cop movie coming six years later, you need to get it right. Sadly they don't. If they went down the "Lethal Weapon" route (They dumbed down the third one, but not to this extent) I believe Stakeout could have been a Franchise, unfortunately we, got a great 80's movie, and a disappointing sequel.

If it's on TV on an lazy afternoon, it's worth a watch, but that's about it.

Another Stakeout is a fantastic movie. It's funny and the acting is quite good. Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez were great together-acting like partners. The house exploding at the beginning was more funny than realistic, it was so long that you could just about go and get a drink and still be back before the end of it. I have seen this film so many times and it is still hilarious every time. It is definitely worth watching on the telly or even hiring it from the video shop. The banter between Dreyfuss and Estevez makes the movie what it is, in other words brilliant. Look out for the conversation about Ren and Stimpy, the bit when Dreyfuss deliberately falls over and says to someone "Frank don't go, you can stay and help me eat", it is so funny. If you haven't seen this film it's you who's lost out. 10/10.