Stakeout

Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Emilio Estevez, Aidan Quinn, Madeleine Stowe, Dan Lauria, Forest Whitaker, Ian Tracey
Directed by: John Badham
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime
1987

Times Seen:
Tim: 5

Summary: When a dangerous convict (Aidan Quinn) disappears from custody, two Seattle detectives, Chris (Richard Dreyfuss) and Bill (Emilio Estevez) are assigned to stakeout the apartment of his ex-girlfriend (Madeleine Stowe). As Chris begins a romantic relationship with the woman he is supposed to be watching, the stakes grow much higher... and much more dangerous.

Review:

Tim: I grew up with this movie, so I absolutely love it. The film itself is just slightly mediocre save for one single thing- the chemistry between Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez. Buddy cop movies come and go every day, but I doubt you will ever see one like this. Dreyfuss and Estevez must have had an absolute blast making this film. Their characters are hilarious, and together, they will have your sides hurting you'll be laughing so much. Every second of screen time together is an incredible moment.

Dreyfuss and Estevez are great, but all the comic performances in the world won't matter if you don't have good writing. This film is written beautifully, as the dialogue between the two main characters sparkles with energy. Every thought and every word has the potential to be hilarious, and you hold on tight, just waiting to see what'll happen next. I am a big fan of excellent dialogue, and this film ranks up at the very top. From insults to witty retorts, to pretty much everything else, Dreyfuss and Estevez have great material to work with.

The downside to this film is pretty much every scene where these two aren't together. Whenever Stowe or Quinn is on screen, you find yourself begging for the scene to be over, so you can see the protagonists again. As this is an action/comedy, you do need to have some action scenes, and they are pretty boring, and not exciting at all. The comedy in this movie is superb, the action is slightly less than so-so. If you rent this for the comedy, prepare to be amazed.

* Update- I watched Stakeout again in June 2020, at least a decade (and probably closer to 15 years) since I last saw the film. It's always interesting revisiting films like this. I'd seen it multiple times and I always loved it, but the world is a different place and I'm a different person today. I still love this movie and I still laughed continuously throughout it, but the movie hasn't aged quite as well as you would hope.

I still agree with much of my original review. The reason I consider this a great movie is that it's so fun to see Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez working together. They have an easy chemistry that makes you believe they're real friends. They have some great dialogue together. Those scenes are superb. The action scenes are less effective, although they might not be as bad as I originally believed.

What really feels different to me is that much of the humor comes from a place that today is easier to recognize as creepy and uncomfortable. Scenes I watched a decade plus ago without blinking are harder to watch today- Chris & Bill take a lot of enjoyment in spying on this woman undressing in her own home. Chris breaks into the woman's house and spies on her in the shower. Some of the dialogue, especially when it's geared towards women makes you cringe. I don't think these things make this a bad movie- you have to look at the film through the context of 1987, but it's a positive sign that in 2020, much of the humor here would be considered unacceptable.

It's funny, in the earlier times of seeing this movie, I never really enjoyed Aidan Quinn in the role. It felt like his story was a detraction from our protagonists, which I didn't enjoy. I appreciated what he did more this time around- it's a solid antagonistic performance. It also makes me laugh that my original review didn't mention Forest Whitaker in a supporting role. He's such a good actor and he must not have been on my radar all those years ago. He and Dan Lauria work exceptionally well together and act as superb foils for Dreyfuss and Estevez. I also didn't give Madeleine Stowe enough credit. I've always really liked Stowe and wish she had maintained a higher profile over the last several decades. She takes a role that was written as an afterthought and she makes Maria memorable- she's strong, feisty, and kind. I really enjoyed her performance here.

Although this movie is harder to watch today, I'm not ashamed to admit I still love Stakeout. Some of the jokes haven't aged well, but many others are equally as funny as when the movie was first released. This is probably the kind of film you'd call a "guilty pleasure", although I don't feel a ton of guilt. I admit the movie has some issues, but I always have sun a fun time watching it.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 8



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend:
Another Stakeout, Jaws, Snatch, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Always