Loose Cannons

I had the opportunity to appear in a few "background" scenes during the filming in DC. As an active duty police detective at that time, I was somewhat critical of how Hackman and company were portrayed. A modern version of the Keystone Cops is not what I had expected. Spending my weekend off with the production/film crew was albeit a worthwhile experience. You are afforded first hand "up close and personal" contact with the actors and the effort it takes to put the entire project together. I watched as Dom Deluise entertained some tourists/passersby when his scene was over and had an occasion to chat with Ronny Cox. Sadly,this was not really a good movie. The actors worked well with what they had, but they had little to work with. Fortunately most of them have moved on to far better scripts to enhance their careers.

I thought that these two actors would make a good film together...I was sorely mistaken. The jokes were bad, Hackman's acting (if it can indeed be called that) is forced, and Aykroyd is flat-out embarrassing. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't; I was asleep. Nothing worked in this movie.

Director Bob Clark (PORKY'S) is not just known for his handfuls of weird horror movies in the 70s, but for comedies that are offending and tasteless. You'd believe that Dan Aykroyd would pair himself well with Gene Hackman in helping LOOSE CANNONS out as a farce of espionage and spy thrillers. As a first-rate comedy star, why not? His imitations of movie references and cliches are very annoying to make this generally unfunny along with the sexist dialogue that is rendered useless. It's confusing and sloppy for a movie like this to carry multiple personalities of its own compared to, again, Aykroyd. At one point it is slapstick and stupid, only to be followed by some intense (surprisingly graphic) violence and sheer boredom. The cycle repeats itself again to make this very uneven in the comfort of it all. Dom DeLuise wasn't a big delight like he has always been; he also gets into the act by speaking of porno movies and other offensive things. This movie tries its darndest to make it succeed, but it ends up firing loose blanks long before it's all over.

GOOD movie!!! I dunno what the other people are griping about, maybe they are easily offended. If you like the 48 Hours Movies, you will like this one. Is it crude? Yes. Is it stupid? yes. Is it REALLY stupid? REALLY yes. Fun to watch? AMAZINGLY so. Although I agree Dom Deluise "Can" butcher movies sometimes, this one he was good in..the obnoxious, fat Triple XXX movie producer. Dan Akroyd as lunatic #1 makes a good performance....Not a full laugh all the time movie, but the one-liners and stupid acts make it funny Although it jumps A lot, and is somewhat..eh..loose-ended at times. it is a joy to watch. They were able to cram SO many movie cliché's and references it was fun to watch because of that!!!(It's amazing all the people in it that you know from other shows. Stargate SG1, Coach, etc.) Cop-buddies, S&M, Porno and Nazi smut and sympathizer, hunted down by Israeli Mossad.... Let me put it this way: If you like occasional stupidity mixed with comedy and crudeness...this is the movie :D Plus you can find it half ways cheap. My opinion=9 stars....IF...you don't watch it that often :D Only 2-3 times a year.

Terrible film that puts old detective (Gene Hackman) with a crazed detective (Dan Aykroyd) to solve a complicated case. The odd partnership is made stranger due to the fact that Aykroyd has a type of split-personality disorder which causes him to imitate television show characters at seemingly all times. A really poor movie that wastes the immense talents of Hackman. A really rotten goose egg. 2 stars out of 5.

I love Gene Hackman. I love Dan Aykroyd. Sometimes I even love Dom DeLouise. But I still think this is the worst movie I have ever seen. First of all it's offense to Schizophrenics, second of all it's offensive to people who like good movies. I saw this movie years ago, and it still stands in my mind as the worst movie I've ever seen. Soft-core * has better acting/writing/directing. If it was an action movie, where was the action? If it was a comedy, where were the jokes? I can tell you that this film is certainly a tragedy.

It was funny and witty and Gene Hackman and Dan Akyroyd are balls of laughter in the film. I'm a fan of buddy cop films, I always look forward to a buddy cop film, from 48 hours to lethal weapon and the dirty harry series; the buddy cop films are a blast. Dom Deluise is hilarious, a Mel Brooks regular putting in that usual fat charm that made him funny in the first place to good use in this typical but funny caper. The story is as clichéd as what you see in an 80's/90's cop film; A murder was committed and two cops with different personalities learn to cope with their differences to break the case and shoot-up bad guys. Now I can't say its original but I like the shoot em ups and this was a good shoot em up film. The car chases were inventive and the scene of the train being hijacked from men on helicopters was a well directed action scene. It focused on the humor but didn't ignore the action. The acting was good, Hackman is always great to watch on screen and Dan is a good partner combination.

This is comedy! Sometimes people are offended by stuff like this, but really! How could anybody be offended by silliness like this? Some reviewers found Akroyds "personalities" offensive. I found them amusing as they, of course, should not be taken seriously. It's slapstick, not Ingmar Bergman! The movie was well paced, and reasonably suspenseful as such a movie that tries to follow in the footsteps of movies like "48 hours" should be. There's one thing I dislike about this movie, however, and that's Dom DeLouise. He tries his best to ruin this movie, as he tries to ruin every other movie I have ever seen him in. That man simply cannot act! It makes you wonder why he's in so many movies. Does anybody know? Based on the other reviews I almost didn't watch this, but once again it shows that what's comedy for someone is not necessarily comedy for everyone. I enjoyed it a lot this late evening, and will probably watch it again, and give it a solid 8. Possibly because I was positively surprised after reading the other reviews...

The only remarkable aspect of this threadbare, puerile movie is the talent level associated with it. Richard Matheson had a hand in the screenplay, and Gene Hackman and Dan Aykroyd both said yes to a film that, frankly, should never have been released in its presented form. Without knowing the history of the preproduction, the assumption would be that there had to be a major change to the script between initial conception and the final product. Otherwise, it is hard to see Hackman or Aykroyd accepting on the basic premise of making cheap laughs out of a psychiatric illness – bearing in mind this was long before the days of "Me, Myself and Irene." The darker elements of the plot certainly call for a much more serious approach, which could have worked with a better actor. In reality, it's hard to chuckle as Aykroyd goons about as Butch Cassidy, various Star Trek characters, and Road Runner, to name but a few. These personalities manifest under severe duress, and such a plot device would be more believable if the character was a civilian caught up in the cops & robbers chase. Instead – incredibly - not only is Aykroyd a cop, he was never cut out for the rigors of police work and was given the job as a favor from his uncle, a senior police detective. Really, which career cops do that kind of thing? Worse still, Aykroyd is brought out of convalescence by the same uncle, who is apparently so desperate to crack a case that he will endanger the welfare of a family member with a very serious psychiatric illness, and risk the loss of his job for gross misconduct. Suspending disbelief even in the name of broad comedy can only go so far. The movie sets the tone right at the beginning with a crass scene that introduces Hackman as a detective on a disturbance-of-the-peace call to an apartment building. Why a couple of detectives are sent out on a routine call is never adequately explained. Aykroyd's gooning is often plainly embarrassing – leaping around in the street during a car chase, doing a flying monkey/Wicked Witch skit from "The Wizard of Oz" comes painfully to mind. The bad guys might as well be made from cardboard, which would explain how such ruthless villains can just stand there holding their guns as Aykroyd-as-Road-Runner steamrolls over them. Beep-beep! It's all extremely low-grade stuff, and deserves to be avoided, even by fans of the main actors, especially as Hackman is only here to make up the numbers. There is an attempt at empathy for Aykroyd's character with some serious talk about his condition, but Aykroyd simply isn't a gifted-enough actor to pull this off. Dom DeLuise is along for the ride and he does what little is asked of him. In fact, his character is very easy for the audience to identify with, as he rolls his eyes and groans at Aykroyd's antics throughout the movie.

Loose Cannons is a horrible combination of detective thriller and black comedy. Hackman and Aykroyd are wasted (and probably eternally incompatible) talents in a movie that should never have been made. A detective doing cartoon character impersonations join Mossad agents in a chase after a Nazi * film showing Hitler committing suicide. The plot has all the makings of an Austin Powers spoof - a possibility that is sadly never explored in a film taking itself much, much too seriously.