48 Hrs.

48 Hrs. follows Nick Nolte’s grizzled cop Jack Cates as he’s forced to team up with convicted felon Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy) to catch a vicious killer (James Remar’s Albert Ganz), with the bulk of the proceedings devoted to the mismatched pair’s ongoing attempts at putting aside their differences and working together. It’s a solid premise that’s employed to pervasively erratic effect by director Walter Hill, as the filmmaker, working from a script cowritten with Roger Spottiswoode, Larry Gross, and Steven E. de Souza, stresses an almost punishingly hit-and-miss narrative that’s devoid of any real sense of momentum. The episodic structure paves the way for a midsection that consists mostly of the protagonists’ exploits within a variety of seedy locales, with the palpable chemistry between the stars and an ongoing emphasis on better-than-expected action sequences ultimately securing 48 Hrs.‘ mild success. (There is, in terms of the latter, an early shootout in a hotel lobby that’s far more exciting and engrossing than anything contained within the entirety of the film’s second half.) But there’s just never a point at which the viewer is wholeheartedly wrapped up in the protagonists’ escapades, and it is, as such, impossible to muster up much enthusiasm for or interest in the increasingly dangerous nature of their pursuit of Remar’s slimy figure – with the action-heavy yet kind of tedious climax finally confirming 48 Hrs.‘s place as a rather disappointing buddy comedy.

**1/2 out of ****