I got inspired to come up with a Vault pick that somehow related to the Super Bowl, and now I realise that I’ll be writing about it a few days after the game when nobody’s thinking football for at least another 8 months. Fortunately, this is a good one in its own right.
The Last Boy Scout is another buddy-action-comedy-brainchild of Shane Black (writer of Lethal Weapon, The Long Kiss Goodnight and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) who can’t seem to stop incorporating Christmas into his scripts (this time it’s Satan Claws). Directed by Tony Scott, Bruce Willis stars as private detective and former secret service agent Joe Hallenbeck (he’s essentially John McClane, but is there anything wrong with that?) who is chasing down leads starting from the murder of a stripper under his protection (played by a not nearly stripping enough Halle Berry) and leading him all the way to a plot to murder a United States Senator by the owner of professional football team. Joining Joe Hallenbeck for this wild ride is former quarterback Jimmy Dix, played a little too seriously by Damon Wayans.
Thanks to Shane Black’s signature style, there are slick one-liners and great repartee galore, and there’s also some outstanding over the top action – including a guy getting chopped up by a helicopter blade, and if you ever wanted to see football played with semi-automatic handguns, this is about as close as you’re ever gonna get.
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I loved this film since I was kid. You are right that this is Damon Wayan’s best performance. I loved the foul-mouthed daughter. The gems that came out of her mouth. Loves it.
Which did you like better? Wayans in Last Boy Scout, or Wayans in Bulletproof?
I never heard of Bulletproof. If I did see it, it’s not that memorable. I would say Boy Scout.
Never seen Bulletproof?! It’s not great, but it has Adam Sandler when his star was still rising, when he still had something to prove to the world. Wayans’ performance in it was pretty run of the mill, I suppose – he’s a hard nosed cop with a metal plate in his head. I won’t give away the rest in case you get it on Netflix or something. Now that I think of it, I guess Bulletproof was Sandler’s only buddy-action-comedy, and you’d think he could have made a living just doing those.
I will put that on my queue immediately.
I never saw Bulletproof, either. Always looked awful, and the fact that basic cable never ever picked it up said a lot to me as well.
Love The Last Boy Scout, though. Such a good bad movie. Has some terrific character actors in it, too, from Taylor Negron (an all-time favorite) to Bruce McGill. If you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna dance a jig now.
This is yet another installment in Bruce Willis’ campaign to be the next Marlboro Man.
Bulletproof is by no means magnificent, but it’s just such a welcome sight seeing Sandler doing some pseudo-action stuff. “Disneyland!”