Another Stakeout

A decent sequel, Another Stakeout follows Richard Dreyfuss’ Chris Lecce and Emilio Estevez’s Bill Reimers as they’re assigned to watch a lakefront home in the hopes that a mob informant will show up – with the bickering pals’ efforts compounded by the presence of Rosie O’Donnell’s assistant district attorney, Gina Garrett. Filmmaker John Badham, working from Jim Kouf’s script, delivers a watered-down endeavor that’s nevertheless perfectly entertaining and sporadically quite funny, and there’s little doubt that Another Stakeout benefits quite substantially from Dreyfuss and Estevez’s predictably affable work. (The chemistry between their respective characters remains on point, too.) It’s clear, however, that Badham and Kouf are looking to deliver a much more overtly middle-of-the-road endeavor than the original film (ie StakeOut’s hard edge is almost completely absent here), which ensures that the whole thing rarely, if ever, reaches the periodically electrifying heights of that 1987 release. Still, Another Stakeout is a pleasant enough diversion that’s never dull, to be sure, and it’s always a joy to see Dreyfuss and Estevez doing their jovial thing (and this is to say nothing of the effective supporting cast, with Dennis Farina, especially, standing out as a periphery MVP).

**1/2 out of ****