Nowhere to Run

When fugitive jailbird Van Damme holes up with widowed mother Arquette, he not only charms his way into her kids' affections and her bed, but ends up protecting her from avaricious speculator Ackland. Based on a story by Joe Eszterhas and Richard Marquand, this ham-fisted thriller from Mark (The Hitcher) Harmon was intended to transform Van Damme from muscle bound action star to mainstream Hollywood hero. When Van Damme is doing what he does best - narcissistically displaying his body and thumping the bad guys - the film works reasonably well. By contrast his attempts to lighten up and play quieter dramatic scenes offer an embarrassing array of boyish smiles, dumb looks and stilted dialogue.