Downtown (Review)

downtownDowntown is a largely unremembered film released around the start of the 90s. I have no idea about whether it was even in cinemas, but I first caught it on video, and now some 20 years later found myself smiling in advance of upcoming moments, even quoting a couple lines as they were delivered.

Downtown might not have the jokes of Rush Hour, the action of Lethal Weapon or the star power of The Other Guys, but it has enough of all of those things to suggest that it has unfairly been relegated to the Anonymous Files.

When clean cut, by the book (read: white) Alex (Anthony Edwards) runs afoul of the wrong high powered businessman – and his cement frog – and is shit-canned to a more urban (read: black) locale in Philadelphia, he meets Dennis (Forest Whitaker) the moody loner who does things his way.

Alex likes the Beach Boys and rules. Dennis likes Kool Moe Dee and telling Alex to shut the fuck up.

The only thing these men have in common is the love of putting bad guys in jail. Thankfully they get numerous opportunities to do this, which often lead to unlikely and highly coincidental situations wrung dry to squeeze every potential chuckle from the premise. This might not often be believable – actually it rarely is – but you can’t fault Downtown for trying.

While the other characters are cut straight from the templates (the blustery profane Police Chief, the smarmy white collar Bad Guy, the miscellaneous Concerned Spouses), Alex and Dennis are well drawn characters that you could actually see getting to like each other… eventually.

The film has more emotionally charged moments than most, thankfully interspersed carefully betwixt silly action sequences, but as a 90 minute time filler that will probably not be a repeat, Downtown is a welcome point of difference.

Final Rating – 7 / 10. One of the better buddy-cop flicks of the 80s and 90s is one of the least known.

About OGR

While I try to throw a joke or two into proceedings when I can all of the opinions presented in my reviews are genuine. I don't expect that all will agree with my thoughts at all times nor would it be any fun if you did, so don't be shy in telling me where you think I went wrong... and hopefully if you think I got it right for once. Don't be shy, half the fun is in the conversation after the movie.
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