Rent-a-Cop (1988)

Just what I expected

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The acting in this movie is really good.

With some of the most laughably bad dialog I've ever heard in a big screen film, this is perhaps the nadir in the career of everybody involved. Even Liza Minnelli's most sympathetic fans will be tempted to laugh out loud as she prepares to visit a client looking as she just got off stage at the Palace Theater. Of course, she's not a cabaret or concert performer; She's involved in the world's oldest profession, and I'm not talking about carpentry. Liza talks non-stop in this, and her character of Della (as in street walker) is dumber than a box of her signature hair style. If that doesn't give away who she is here, that's really enough to make you feel sorry for her, because it is obvious that she is being paid to humiliate herself. When Liza starts mentioning Broadway shows she was in, all gay men may be in camp heaven, but the rest of the audience is cringing. To add into the camp, Dionne Warwick is tossed in a pointless cameo as Liza's madame. There's a very violent opening where Liza's hooker goes to see her client and ends up at the wrong door, then is shot at and later stabbed. Certainly no lucky lady in this one, reunited with both Burt Reynolds and Robby Benson from that 1975 comedy that was critically panned but made a small profit. This is a complete disaster, and I'm sure that if Gene Hackman was offered a part in this, he was glad he turned it down after reading the reviews. Burt is the fired cop who protects Liza after her attack, and Benson and Bernie Casey are his old pals who aide him to keep Liza safe. The setting here is Chicago, although I bet most of the location footage was stock Chicago shots with Burt and Liza tossed in. The funniest moment has Liza walking nervously through a very "Studio 54" like dance club surrounded by every element of society you can imagine. I bet the extras on this set have dozens of stories to tell!There are some films that you have to watch through to realize how bad they are and others which tell you from the start. "Rent a Cop" is one of the later, perhaps not a disaster for Burt's career, having moments that just reek of ludicrousness. Along with the unfairly maligned "Arthur II", this practically killed Liza's film career. She is not at all believable as a hooker like Jane Fonda was in "Klute", Kathleen Turner was in "Crime of Passion", and fellow musical diva Barbra Streisand was in "Nuts", released at the same time as this. Liza was of course going through all sorts of problems, and seems at times to talk nonstop continuously to work through them. As a cult fan of "Lucky Lady", I can say that it has great moments in spite of being mediocre, but after seeing (and hearing) Liza in this, I wish I could change the title to "Mute Lady".

Here's a film I reckon, was judged quite unfairly, if harshly. Although it's no hit, it's still a lot of fun, with danger at many a turn, and a worthwhile view. What makes the film work is the bonding and excellent casting of Minelli and Reynolds. Starting out very much like Code Of Silence, one of the producers attached to that, worked on this one. We have a drug buy, gone to s..t and a very p..sed off Captain who pushes Burt's buttons, not a good thing to do. A psychotic (Remar) highjacks the shipment, Minelli a hooker with heart, witness to Remar's features. She was with a sicko client in the next room, of this ritzy hotel when this mayhem went down, resulting in a score of Burt's men being taken down. Now Burt's demoted, working as a rent a cop, his new job has him undercover in Santa Claus guise. With a few attempts made on Minelli's life, running scared, she implores Burt's services, which at first, he's so very much reluctant, zero tolerance I'm talking, as she is a stroke of bad luck for him as far as his career prospects go. With the story that moves unhurriedly along, the building of the relationship, between our leads, I really liked. Minelli provides a lot of laughs, where things even turn romantic, something that had to happen I guess. Minelli's larger than life character sold the film, where Burt is just Burt here. He's done far better work. There are moments you think, he really doesn't care. Australia's own John Stanton (Bellamy) makes an appearance, as a bad guy, and it was good to see him in this, his second overseas flick, after that so called dud Taipan. It's good to see Bernie Casey re team with Burt after Sharky's Machine. On the surface, Rent a Cop appears pretty weak and washy, and this is cause of Burt and Liza's antics, stuffing about, straying away the business of the story, but it has a good moments of action, well executed in a not a half bad flick. You get laughs, like you don't expect, and it's quite the adventure with our two, where we owe most of our thanks to the wonderful Liza. For Burt fans especially, and others who don't enjoy a not so bad action flick. Love the instrumental theme song.

I love the music score, the relaxed jokes and the expected turns in the story. I have no idea how it did in 1987, but it is among my favorite cop comedies from the period. A little rip of off Beverly Hills Cop but I'm able to forgive them. It is among those I go back to watch again when I have forgotten it.The worst thing about it is the villains. None of them go down in history. No special features to mention on the DVD I got, which is crappy. However, I believe they could have created a lasting DVD audience if they had invested a little in the extra quality features.You can probably drop buying it if you're not likely to enjoy the genre, Minelli or Reynolds. If you can rent/borrow it cheap and are able to enjoy simple action/comedy from the eighties then pop the corn, relax and enjoy.

Chicago cop Burt Reynolds is suspended after a sting operation goes terribly wrong; he turns in his badge but finds work playing bodyguard to hooker Liza Minnelli, who was a witness to the massacre that got Reynolds in hot water. Burt seems to be suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (he's barely present); however, vivacious Liza (too old, really, to be playing a busy prostitute) does manage to elevate this crime-drama with her personality alone, and the solid technical aspects of the production, not to mention a fine supporting cast and gritty locales, are also exceptional. While combining corny comedic asides, a very strange villain, and jarring bursts of violence, "Rent-a-Cop" is pretty much a mess--and professional critics snubbed it--yet it is entertaining enough and the two stars share some great chemistry (even with Burt so sleepy). **1/2 from ****