Gist is a criminal gets out of prison and goes on a series of rampages for the entirety of the movie while courting a young prostitute, telling her he has gone legit. It's pretty hilarious. This character is completely out-of-control. He gets so used to playing a cop that when he runs into the guy whose identity he's stolen screams, “Freeze! Police!” He screams back, “Freeze! Police!” Ridiculous, and laugh-out-loud humorous.
It stars Alec Baldwin, Fred Ward, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Nora Dunn, who looks pretty fine, makes a couple of appearances. Based on the novel by Charles Willeford. Directed by George Armitage. He also directed Grosse Pointe Blank and wrote The Late Shift about the Letterman/Leno saga to take of for Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show.” Was one of Roger Corman's proteges. Not sure what happened with him, as he hasn't directed anything since 2004. A real shame.
Opens to Baldwin getting out of prison and going on sort of having a low-key rampage through the airport. Steals a bunch of shit and breaks a Hare Krishna's finger. Homicide comes out. Detective is like WTF? Apparently the guy died of shock, which is weird thing to kick off a movie with. This guy definitely belongs behind bars. Cop investigates him, and he goes to his home, assaults him, and steals his badge. He then impersonates a cop to steal shit. He'll stop a crime, like a purse snatching, and then will take it himself.
Says he wants a normal life. Lot of red flags. I wouldn't marry him. “Don't want to have kids. This world's a shit-hole.” Couldn't agree more.
Lot of dark humor in this flick like that. I LOLed a couple of times. For example, Baldwin's character tells JJL that he is done with crime but keeps coming home progressively more physically messed up. Gets run over inside a convenience store after stopping a holdup while playing cop, which was wild. (The kid behind the counter has a killer Miami Heat tank top on. They were a new expansion team when this was made. Pretty cool.) Eventually, he gets his fingers chopped off by a machete. Yet he still tries to keep up the con.
I vividly remember the cover of this movie in the video store. Had Baldwin shirtless aiming a gun. I assumed it was a serious cop movie and never watched it. Little did I know the insanity that I was in store for. Features on of the most revolting dinners I can imagine that features something called vinegar pie for dessert. Hard to believe I watched this on the Criterion Channel type of flick. However, highly recommend.
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