Running Scared

Following in Eddie Murphy's footsteps, Billy Crystal - another stand-up comedian from TV's Saturday Night Live - here patrols Chicago's mean streets in his first feature, teamed with Gregory Hines as a pair of streetwise cops who prefer firing wisecracks to bullets to get them through the day. With four weeks until retirement, all they have to do is stay alive. Unfortunately, evil dope pusher Julio Gonzales (Smits), along with what would appear to be Chicago's entire Hispanic community, is out to get them. With their sloppy slapstick and wet Menudo jokes, one only wonders why more people aren't out to kill them. But Crystal and Hines do flavour the film with genuine warmth, and despite some cheap gags, work well together to produce some truly funny moments.