Stakeout Another Stakeout [Blu-ray]

Most of mill creeks blu rays are not the best print usually. Scratches and lines appear in many; the color in them looks bad often too. This one looks outstanding. It's as good as any catalog blu ray out there. The movie itself is a average buddy cop flick that isn't as good as the first one. But for once mill creek delivered a great blu ray. The sound is 2.0 stereo and that's what this was in the theaters I believe. Emilio Estevev was still riding high here. I can't imagine why his career falted after the midnities. He wasn't a problem drug abuser like his brother Charlie and he was dependable. Charlies movie career actually lasted alot a few years longer than Emilios did. It's a mystery to me but the man isn't even on made to dvd films or even a tv series. What a waste, he had alot of talent. Here, he and Richard Dreyfuss carry this average buddy flick quite well. It's a comedy drama type of thing, although hopefully they will release the much better first movie. Both of them however did quite well at the box office and Rosie O is even quite good in this one. I had to give this one four stars though because of the excellent movie print that mill creek used. For once you can watch one of their blu rays without lots of damage to a movie.

Somewhere in the cobwebbed recesses of my moviegoing memory, amid the flood of 80's and 90's cop-buddy movies, I know I saw 1987's STAKEOUT. Starring Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez as the requisite cop buddies, I have virtually no recollection of that hit movie of its day. However, it apparently did well enough at the box office to warrant a sequel, because in 1993 the same creative team came together to turn out ANOTHER STAKEOUT.

Helmed by John Badham, a journeyman director who hit big in 1977 with SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER and went on to become a ubiquitous feature presence during the next two decades, ANOTHER STAKEOUT is reflective of the sheer competence Badham could usually be counted on to deliver. Hamstrung by a clichéd, by-the-numbers script by Jim Kouf (RUSH HOUR, NATIONAL TREASURE, STAKEOUT) that shoots for laughs amid the sparse action and consistently misses, Badham does his best with the lifeless material, turning out a slickly produced studio-level mediocrity.

I can't imagine any acting team bringing the comedy in Kouf's lame screenplay to any kind of life. But with the forced chemistry of Dreyfuss and Estevez never gelling, the grate factor is only multiplied by the third comedic genius thrown into this mix - Rosie O'Donnell.

She plays assistant D.A. Gina Garrett, who has to go undercover with the two cops, staking out a house on Washington's Bainbridge Island where Brian and Pam O'Hara (Dennis Farina and Marcia Strassman) live, because they think that's where mob informant Lu Delano (Cathy Moriarty) is hiding out. So, Dreyfuss and O'Donnell (who has to bring along her pet Rottweiler, Archie) pretend to be a married couple, with Estevez undercover as Dreyfuss' son.

After a fairly cool action opening, in which brutal hitman (are there any other kind?) Tony Castellano (Miguel Ferrer) attempts to take out Lu Delano by completely blowing up the Vegas house where she's under protective custody, the movie becomes a hackneyed retread of much better, more exciting films of the era (48 HOURS, BEVERLY HILLS COP, LETHAL WEAPON). You would think that in a sequel the filmmakers would try to top themselves, but the scale of ANOTHER STAKEOUT is so minor that it's a testament to Badham's skill that he is able to breathe any life into this moribund property at all.

Oh, and if you ever had any desire to see Rosie O'Donnell from overhead in a bubble bath, this is the movie for you.

Another Stakeout is the sequel to Stakeout -- not as good, but not too bad, either. There are some funny spots throughout and some action, as well. Certainly well worth the $5.99 blu-ray price.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 7 reviews  2.9 out of 5 stars