Sunday, July 28, 2024

Movie review - "Collision Course" (1989) **

 Buddy cop film with Jay Leno and Pat Morita - I would've greenlit that and it has a decent idea, with Morita investigating industrial espionage in Detroit. There's some interesting stuff about Detroit resentment of the Japanese car industry.

The funniest/best scenes are cultural and quirky: Leno getting drunk with Morita, and Morita going into a bar with toughs who talk about tariffs. I think the film needed to lean into culture clash bit more - Morita fits into Detroit too well if that makes sense.

Also Leno's character is a bit too sleazy - they should've just given him a girlfriend, made Morita the ladies' man. Look there's a lot of things that could've been done better - it does move, the leads are fun, Chris Sarandon and Tom Noonan are decent villains.

The original director was John Guillermin, who was replaced by Bob Clark who was replaced by Lewis Teague. Teague keeps the pace fast and light.

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