The Last Boy Scout (1991)

The most underrated buddy cop movie of all time

You cant talk about underrated action flick without mentioning The Last Boy Scout. I mean this movie came and went and stayed off the radar for a while. Let me give you a brief description of what its about.

Bruce Willis plays Joe Hallenback, a down on his luck private investigator who comes home and finds his best friend sleeping with his wife. He later teams up with an ex-football player named Jimmy Dix(Damon Wayans) whose girlfriend Cory(Halle Berry) just got murdered.

Opinion: Lets do a quintessential buddy cop checklist and see if this movie meets those requirements.

Does it feature an unlikely pairing? Check.
Does the unlikely pairing work well together? Check.
Does it have moments of humor since one of the stars is a comic? Check.
Does it give you one hell of ride from start to finish? Check

So what the hell are these people expecting? This was made to be a popcorn flick but it was one hell of popcorn flick. Bruce Willis still shined as the action hero of the movie. Damon Wayans was funny but he also faired well when it was time to do a serious scene. I still laugh at the scene where Jimmy claims that Joe has to be the dumbest man on planet Earth because Joe is trying to solve the murder of the same best friend who slept with his wife. The audience still cares even we we come to the realization also. This movie came out at a time when you can expect a good action flick and the director Tony Scott hadnt dropped the ball yet in that department. If you dont expect oscar material you might like this one but I still think its one of the most underrated buddy cop movies of all time. October 27, 2008

Good Action Flick

Bruce is grest and so is Damon. Too bad Halle Berry dies so soon. Good action sequences. September 19, 2008

Did I just tivo Die Hard?

I love Bruce Willis - despite the fact that his characters tend to be one-dimensional, and the movies he's in tend to be heavy on explosives and light on plot. I am a hard core Die Hard fan (even the third and fourth installments). However, I was not thrilled with "The Last Boy Scout"

This movie was basically a Die Hard sequel with more gore and with a slightly less likable lead character. Cop-like character down on his luck - check. Same character having problems with wife - check. Same character spending most of the movie killing people, shouting one liners, and eventually saving the day - check, check, check.

I also DID find this movie to be misogynistic. I'm a little frustrated that most of the other reviewers didn't notice this aspect. The first woman we see (apart from cheerleaders) is a bare-breasted woman being held under water by a football player. We then get close-ups on a stripper's body parts while she dances - and is then killed. One main male character admits to cheating on his woman (said stripper) early in the movie. Finally, the "romantic" one liner is Bruce Willis saying "f#ck you" to his wife. Not really the most woman loving of films ...

However, I did occasionally laugh, and I did enjoy the surprise ending of the first football game we got to watch (though I was not sure how this played into the rest of the movie). And, of course, I do love snarky Bruce Willis ...

December 2, 2007

"water is wet, the sky is blue, women have secrets"

Well,despite the assembled cast in this film, this isn't one of Bruce Willis's best action flicks.Its a pretty cheesey/hammy action film made when Hollywood scripts were still heavily employing wise cracks and one liners,and this film is full of them,and a whole lot of something else.Damen Waynes as the "tag along" I'm goona help kick some A@!? character is fairly annoying as is the basic plot in this film,"the corruption of professional football".It comes complete with a really cheesy bar room jingle that just outright sucks,the singer even had the brass cojonies to have a mullet.This film is full of action,allot of unrealistic action,but its not the first,nor will it be the last.The foul mouthed 12 year old was a totally unnecessary character as were the retarded subplots trying too creep in and maintain the viewers interest which it vaugley does.Yes, Bruce has some funny one liners and I got a chuckle out of a few of them and I even liked some of the cartoony action,but the Last Boy Scout is a dud hands down and I'm sure that Bruce Willis today would much rather forget he was in this film.I suppose it was sort of a launching platform for Damen Waynes and even the Oscar winning Haley Barry in her hay day has a 10 minute onscreen presence before being cut to ribbons durring one of the major action sequences in the begining of the film.Bruce is a great/likeable actor, but sometimes too much of Bruce is too much,especially when he's out saving the world all the time from the likes of homosexual phsychos like in this film which was pretty freak'in lame.The Last Boy Scout is semi-watchable,but really nothing to get your panties in a twist over.Willis can be seen in other,better made action films if you know where to look...just take your pick. April 24, 2007

The Last Boy Scout

Action packed with mature humor mixed in. One of Bruce Willis's best films.
November 10, 2006

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