LogFAQs > #971990524

25. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Directed by: Martin Brest
Score: 205

Suprak: 8
Inviso: 17
Mythiot: 17
Karo: 20
GavsEvans: 21
Tangy: 22
Poke: 22
Johnbobb: 23
Plasma: 27
Fortybelowsummer: 28

17. Vis
This was a fun little buddy cop movie without really having the complete buddy cop experience. You basically take a street-smart Detroit cop and throw him into the uptight world of Beverly Hills where theyre all by the book. First off, its hilarious to me that they paint the L.A. Police Department (Beverly Hills is PART of L.A., right? Im not completely wrong about how L.A. works, am I?) as following the rules and being against unjust attacking of detained suspects. Yeah, okay LAPD. But beyond that, it really is amusing to watch Eddie Murphys Axel Foley run circles around literally everyone in this film. Sure, he gets caught a couple times, but more often than not, he just makes the rest of the characters in the movie look foolish, which makes the comedy. The fish-out-of-water story works so well when the fish is the one outsmarting the rest of the water.

Also, I have to give a TON of praise to the ending, because it would have been SO easy to go the route of the captain is crooked and paid off, and its down to Judge Reinhold to be the lone good cop on the force. Instead, Axel drags the LAPD into a serious smuggling bust, and theyre forced to go along with it, and end up lying their asses off to cover the fact that Axel largely accomplished what they didnt even realize was going on. Seeing even the captain, and the stuffy sergeant get in on bluffing to the commissioner was so satisfying at the end, because ultimately, Axel was not TRYING to make them look foolish. He was trying to make them break the law and effectively behave like REAL police officers instead of the idealized version that audiences are conditioned to hate. In the context of a fictional story, its an enjoyable twist.

20. Karo
A cop from a Detroit ghetto heads to southern California to solve the murder of his best friend, of course against the wishes of his superiors because he's this utter rebel that somehow hasnt been fired yet.
What follows is a series of scenes where this random black guy busts into restricted areas and elite establishments and somehow doesnt end up shot by Beverly Hills PD, and busts a huge drug ring that every detective in LA didn't even have a clue existed because he's got them street smarts, yo.
The moral of the movie seems to be that a good cop should just ignore all the regulations of search and seizure and break unlawfully into private property multiple times because he has a hunch there might be drugs there because if you are a good upstanding citizen you should have no issue with the cops kicking down your door and going through all your shit. This kind of police propaganda narrative makes me very uncomfortable, and is the reason I greatly dislike so many cop movies/shows.

21. GavsEvans
I like Axel Foley. The opening scene introduces him well, establishing his unorthodox methods, leading into a fun chase scene. He doesnt do things by the book, but unlike most other fictional police officers who act on instinct, this approach doesnt always get results. Once the main story began, I wasnt as into that, but Axel remains an entertaining character throughout.

Possibly because Axel is so good, the other characters arent as fleshed out. The villain is obviously up to no good because of how arrogant and snooty he is, but he isnt as deliciously evil as the villains of contemporary action franchise Lethal Weapon. No DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY! here, sadly. Axels police colleagues tend to go things by the book, are frustrated with his antics and easily tricked by him, but they eventually lighten up a bit and recognise theres a time to act on instinct.

Here we have an example of just how much a great central character can elevate a film, as Axel Foley carries this film without him, it would have ranked lower. I also like the theme tune enough that I wont dock points because Crazy Frog covered it. Speaking of which, only while writing this did I realise why the song is called Axel F Im sure it was obvious to lots of other people before I figured it out!

22. Tangy
This was the movie I was the most conflicted about including in the list as I wasn't sure how well it would fit as a satire. I was pleasantly surprised at how it fared. The cops were enjoyably stupid and the movie even had a solid overall theme about helping people even if its against the rules. That said, this movie still needed to do more to be one of the greats. While there are bits of satire sprinkled throughout, this is still a cop movie first and foremost and that made it pretty boring for me. The plot is incredibly predictable and Murphy has to practically carry the whole movie on his back. He does a great job, but its not enough to make up for the bare bones script.

Biggest Laugh: Banana in the tailpipe, of course

23. John
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qfMIhV1UJE

27. Plasma
Edward Murphy kills it here and theres a great banana-in-the-tailpipe gag, but the rest of this movie is oppressively meh. This one caused me to abandon our project for over a month. D-

28. Forty
Disturbing the peace? I got thrown out of a window! Whats the fucking charge for getting thrown out of a moving car? Jaywalking? I have never cared much for Eddie Murphy. Even good Eddie Murphy before he started garnering a lot of dislike for consistently being in terrible movies. Theres no denying that hes talented and influential, but his cocky loud-mouthed wisecracking just isnt really my cup of tea. With a few exceptions I dont like buddy cop movies either so, yeah, BHC isnt a favorite of mine. The movie itself is packed with cliches, from the car chase at the start, to the warehouse of illicit goods, to the damsel in distress, to the mansion shoot-out. I dont know how original this was in 1984 but none of it was very entertaining for me. I also feel like there was an opportunity for more pointed satire about race relations, but it took the low road, going for cheap laughs. On a positive note: the theme song is an all-time great one.