After Beverly Hills Cop, and before Scent of a Woman, director Martin Brest helmed a buddy action-comedy with a fantastic cast. It didn't have the megawatt star power of an ascendant Eddie Murphy, or the emotional drama of Al Pacino playing a blind Army Lieutenant Colonel, but it paired Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin in a fun and funny road trip movie that still holds up almost forty years later.
De Niro leans into his tough-guy persona as bounty hunter 'Jack Walsh', determinedly pursuing Grodin's 'Jonathan Mardukas', a mob accountant wanted by the FBI, his former employers, and a rival hunter (John Ashton). If Jack can snag Jonathan and transport him across the country from NYC to LA in five days, it's a cool $100,000 bounty. Things get more complicated quickly. For one thing, Mardukas is especially adept at getting on Jack's nerves, fully capitalizing on Grodin's ability to combine slight neuroticism with deadpan delivery. Like Steve Martin and John Candy in John Hughes's Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, out the year before, these two mismatched companions employ multiple modes of travel for their dysfunctional road trip.
When I first saw this, it wasn't the kind of comedy I was expecting, leading to some confusion and a dearth of laughs. But somtimes assumptions and initial impressions need time to come and go; a rewatch revealed a great script, top-tier chemistry, and an excellent ensemble cast I had forgotten. Yaphet Kotto, Dennis Farina, Joe Pantoliano, Jack Kehoe, and Philip Baker Hall all add to the comedy chaos that director Brest and writer George Gallo cook up. If you've ever enjoyed a buddy comedy of any kind, this 1988 effort is worth checking out.
