Abrasive D.C. Vice Detective, MacArthur "Mac" Stern (Gene Hackman) is disliked by pretty much every detective in his department. Mac is paired up with quiet introverted oddball Ellis Fielding (Dan Akyroyd) who he soon discovers has psychological scarring that makes him adopt multiple personalities when under pressure or strain, but through a series of contrivances still works with him. The two investigate murders related to the sale of a pornographic film allegedly featuring Adolf Hitler, but as the investigation proceeds the two discover the film may have darker implications.
Released in 1990 to bad reviews and box office failure, Loose Cannons was another entry in a glut of 80s bubby cop action comedies that flooded cineplexes during the decade. The movie not only has a workman like approach to its well worn formula, but it's also a tonally confused mess that doesn't deliver on laughs or action.
The humor in this movie is just bizarre to put it generously. Much of the humor is based around broad gags that are more confusing and head scratching than funny. Beginning with the opening scene where person of interest Harry "The Hippo" Gutterman (Dom Deluise) is in speedboat with three other people dressed like characters from Alice in Wonderland (for reasons too stupid to explain) the movie fills itself with other confusing gags of a similar ilk that have no context, setup, or payoff and just leave the viewer wondering "why?". Early in the movie Mac is seen having pride in his restored Woodie wagon, which within a few scenes is seen filled with his pet cat, and various possessions because his apartment caught fire(which we never see). Ellis's Multiple Personality Disorder is less a case of Ellis adopting personalities and more just regurgitating the previous 50 years of American pop culture as he at various points believes himself to be TV characters, movie characters, and even cartoon character like Popeye, Tweety Bird and Woody Woodpecker. Akyroyd is a very funny comedian and he's done well in this type of movie before (Spies Like Us, Dragnet) but here Akyroyd feels confused and like he's not given proper direction except to do random impressions. Hackman isn't as bad as Akyroyd in the movie (by virtue of not having to do much "comedy") but Hackman's Mac basically smugs and smirks his way through the movie with very little investment or chemistry with Akyroyd.
The movie's screenplay is just a mess. The credited writers are Bob Clark as well as Richard Matheson and Matheson's son Richard Christian Matheson and their credits are perplexing as Matheson himself is known for horror and sci-fi stories while his son is most prominent as a writer and story editor on The A-Team. Their presence here makes me wonder if the movie was not originally inteded to be a comedy, especially since there's some rather dark villains with neo nazi Grimmer whose sinister presence doesn't mesh with the mugging antics that Akyroyd is shoehorned into. Even the whole thing about an Adolf Hitler sex tape is just a bunch of nonsense as the ultimate reveal of the film is a character helping Hitler commit suicide. The movie never finds the right footing for itself and feels like a standard buddy cop action thriller with out of place lowbrow humor crudely stapled onto it.
Loose Cannons is a bad movie. The action sequences are workman like and unexciting, the characters are virtually non existent and lacking in chemistry, the humor that's present is either confusing or juvenile, and it has a fundamental miscalculation in handling its tone. Akyroyd has two other movies like this, Dragnet and Spies Like Us, so stick with those and pretend this doesn't exist.
Released in 1990 to bad reviews and box office failure, Loose Cannons was another entry in a glut of 80s bubby cop action comedies that flooded cineplexes during the decade. The movie not only has a workman like approach to its well worn formula, but it's also a tonally confused mess that doesn't deliver on laughs or action.
The humor in this movie is just bizarre to put it generously. Much of the humor is based around broad gags that are more confusing and head scratching than funny. Beginning with the opening scene where person of interest Harry "The Hippo" Gutterman (Dom Deluise) is in speedboat with three other people dressed like characters from Alice in Wonderland (for reasons too stupid to explain) the movie fills itself with other confusing gags of a similar ilk that have no context, setup, or payoff and just leave the viewer wondering "why?". Early in the movie Mac is seen having pride in his restored Woodie wagon, which within a few scenes is seen filled with his pet cat, and various possessions because his apartment caught fire(which we never see). Ellis's Multiple Personality Disorder is less a case of Ellis adopting personalities and more just regurgitating the previous 50 years of American pop culture as he at various points believes himself to be TV characters, movie characters, and even cartoon character like Popeye, Tweety Bird and Woody Woodpecker. Akyroyd is a very funny comedian and he's done well in this type of movie before (Spies Like Us, Dragnet) but here Akyroyd feels confused and like he's not given proper direction except to do random impressions. Hackman isn't as bad as Akyroyd in the movie (by virtue of not having to do much "comedy") but Hackman's Mac basically smugs and smirks his way through the movie with very little investment or chemistry with Akyroyd.
The movie's screenplay is just a mess. The credited writers are Bob Clark as well as Richard Matheson and Matheson's son Richard Christian Matheson and their credits are perplexing as Matheson himself is known for horror and sci-fi stories while his son is most prominent as a writer and story editor on The A-Team. Their presence here makes me wonder if the movie was not originally inteded to be a comedy, especially since there's some rather dark villains with neo nazi Grimmer whose sinister presence doesn't mesh with the mugging antics that Akyroyd is shoehorned into. Even the whole thing about an Adolf Hitler sex tape is just a bunch of nonsense as the ultimate reveal of the film is a character helping Hitler commit suicide. The movie never finds the right footing for itself and feels like a standard buddy cop action thriller with out of place lowbrow humor crudely stapled onto it.
Loose Cannons is a bad movie. The action sequences are workman like and unexciting, the characters are virtually non existent and lacking in chemistry, the humor that's present is either confusing or juvenile, and it has a fundamental miscalculation in handling its tone. Akyroyd has two other movies like this, Dragnet and Spies Like Us, so stick with those and pretend this doesn't exist.