Sometimes I wonder what happened to Chris Tucker. Then I realize that he was just a prototype that got mothballed when the smaller, more powerful Kevin Hart was released. Tucker’s career is pretty much defined by “Rush Hour” (1998), a standard, 1990s buddy-cop action flick. He’s in full Hollywood Shuffle mode playing a motormouthed Eddie Murphy for a cheap rip-off of “Beverly Hills Cop.” There are typical international crime hijinks and even a heavyset nemesis detective with a handlebar mustache. Fortunately, layered on top of that mediocrity is Jackie Chan’s incredibly choreographed fight scenes. It’s worth seeing just for those.
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Ever heard the story about the bisexual baseball player and World War II spy who either bravely confirmed that the Nazis weren’t building an atom bomb or recklessly allowed the Nazis to continue to try to build an atom bomb? Yeah, well, there’s a 2018 movie called “The Catcher Was a Spy” which is “based on a true story,” meaning that only part of that first sentence is true and I don’t know which part. It’s interesting, yet unsatisfying. Honestly, I preferred a New York Times article that I read years ago about the subject of the film, Moe Berg.
“Michael Clayton” (2007) is another morally ambiguous George Clooney vehicle. It’s also a pretty darn good corporate espionage movie. The characters are complex and interesting. The plot has stimulating twists and turns without being indecipherable. It also uses the plot device where you see a pivotal moment in the film and then go back in time to see the various events leading up to that moment. I enjoy that every once in a while. But most importantly, Danny Noonan from “Caddyshack” plays an a-hole lawyer. Who’da thunk it? I though he disappeared after “The Slugger’s Wife.” It’s a Cinderella story.
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