Judge me all you want. I love this movie. I think it's hilarious. Every time I watch it, I find something new to laugh about.This time, it was Christina Applegate's hair.
Melvin Smiley (Mark Wahlberg) is a nice guy. He has no problems doing favors for his co-workers, even when they're clearly taking advantage of him. So, when Cisco (Lou Diamond Phillips) gets the bright idea to kidnap a wealthy mogul's daughter (China Chow) for ransom, Melvin gets stuck with her.
Unfortunately for all concerned, the mogul has gone completely belly-up after investing all his money in a disastrous vanity project and looks to Keiko's godfather (Avery Brooks) for help. He just so happens to be Cisco and Melvin's boss. Desperate to avoid getting whacked, Cisco pins the entire thing on Melvin and the chase is on.
This was before Mark Wahlberg really started to get taken seriously as an actor but you can see the diamond just beneath the surface here. He is a naturally funny man who does very well with action comedies. Lou Diamond Phillips is great here as the scuzzy bad guy. I love his mean little smirks.
It's not an original concept by any means but it manages to be greater than the sum of its parts thanks to great character work. I can watch this movie 100 times and not get bored of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment