StakeOut

Directed by John Badham, StakeOut follows cops Chris Lecce (Richard Dreyfuss) and Bill Reimers (Emilio Estevez) as they’re tasked with watching the home of a recently-escaped convict’s ex-girlfriend (Madeleine Stowe’s Maria) – with complications ensuing as Chris finds himself falling for Maria. It’s an appealing premise that’s employed to mostly stellar effect by Badham, as the filmmaker, working from Jim Kouf’s screenplay, does a superb job of establishing the affable protagonists and the various figures around them – with the entertaining atmosphere heightened by the palpable chemistry between Dreyfuss and Estevez. (And this is to say nothing of the electricity between Dreyfuss and Stowe’s respective protagonists.) The expected action beats are handled exceedingly well by Badham, and it’s clear, too, that StakeOut boasts a handful of unexpectedly tense set-pieces. (It doesn’t hurt, certainly, that Aidan Quinn turns in a seriously menacing performance as the nefarious villain.) The picture’s only real misstep comes in its action-packed climax, as the story reaches a point at which it could naturally conclude and yet Badham keeps things going through to a needless battle at a paper mill. This is a relatively minor complaint for a blockbuster that’s rife with pleasures, and it’s perhaps not a stretch to label the Dreyfuss/Estevez pairing one of the best of its kind within the buddy comedy genre.

*** out of ****