February 9, 1997 -- Eddie Murphy's last movie, "The Nutty Professor" was a big hit, a comeback by the former box office king, but sadly, his latest movie falls far short of last year's hit.

"Metro" is a tired retread of the cop-partner formula that worked so well for Murphy in "Beverly Hills Cop." In his latest film Murphy plays Scott Roper a top hostage negotiator for the San Francisco Police Department.

Murphy's fast-talking wise-guy persona is ideal for this type of role, but the screenplay, by Randy Feldman, doesn't take advantage of Murphy's talents very well. Roper gets a new partner, naturally, Kevin McCall, played by Michael Rapaport. Even though Rapaport is white, he's really too much like Murphy for the necessary friction needed for this formula to work. They are both smart and sassy.

In this film, the two cops spend most of their time chasing a very bad fellow. This involves a couple of long chase scenes, a jail escape and a kidnapping, none of which are very convincing. There's a scene at the end of the film between Roper and his girlfriend that seems to go on forever and doesn't lead anywhere. There is also many obscenities in the dialogue.

About the only interesting thing in the film is a couple of scenes where the director, Thomas Carter, plays with the audience's expectations involving the old shows-the-killer-in-the-mirror cliché and the kill-the-family-pet-to-make-a-statement cliché. It the rest of the film had been that playful, it might have been more interesting, instead, it is just a collection of clichés that are taken way too seriously. This film rates a D. This probably will never play in Laramie, but it won't hurt to wait until you can rent it on video for 50 cents.

Click here for links to places to buy this movie in video and/or DVD format, the soundtrack, books, even used videos, games and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 1997 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.