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Summary: Top 10 comedy of all time
Review: This is a surprislingly wonderful comedy. De Niro is the perfect tough guy/straight man to Grodin who is absolutely BRILLIANT. A perfect mix of adventure and smart, sharp comedy, memorable dialogue and a surprislingly touching scene between De Niro and his daughter that chokes me up every time. Most road flicks are cliche, this one is funny, funny, funny and offers great performances from supporting cast of Yahet Kotto, Joe Pantalitano and Dennis Farina and his goons. Grodin is Brilliant!!
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Summary: great movie
Review: it is really great. I love this movie.
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Summary: A Good Laugh
Review: Here is a great movie for anytime you need a pick-me-up. Good laughs throughout. Highly recommended.
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Summary: Midnight Run - Possibly the only two words:
Review: In this film that didn't start with the letter 'F'!?!?!?!?!Good Grief!!! This was the last film we took my Aunty to see before she died... Never heard so much swearing. At the ripe old age of 21 I concluded that they only kept f'n and blindin' for effect... I mean it was so over the top it was an obvious send up??? Now at the grand old age of 34 and a million action films later... I stand corrected!!! But language aside it was a great film!!! And I don't exactly talk like the sugar plum fairy on my web site!?!?!? Although I couldn't really say just how the s.p.f. is heard to speak? But I would imagine it something like my Mum... Full of niceness and dedicated to the pursuit of niceness!!! And my mother - who was only a few years younger than my Aunt - loved it!!! :-)
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Summary: Hilarious comedy! Smart, witty, great acting...
Review: Charles Grodin gives his finest performance ever as he plays himself (a whiny jerk with a bleeding heart), the perfect foil for Robert De Niro's tough guy bounty hunter who won't sell out, even if it costs him his marriage and his family. This is one of the funniest comedies of all time, but it also has a poignant, true feel to it. Also features great supporting performances from Yaphet Kotto at an FBI inspector and Dennis Farina as a mobster. BTW, this is also my mom's favorite movie ever...She's already worn down the videotape...so when she gets a DVD player, this will be her first purchase.
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Summary: I really liked this movie!!
Review: This is a really fun comedy-action-road trip movie. De Niro is great, and Grodin is even better. Farina, Ashton, Pantoliano and Kotto are all superb as well. Brest's directing is superb - just as it was in *Beverly Hills Cop*. The movie was very well written by George Gallo. And the often-bluesy music score by Danny Elfman goes so well with this film. And the film is filled with dozens of cute and memorable little catch phrases :) But be forewarned - there is a lot of cussing in this movie.
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Summary: One of the best
Review: Robert DeNiro is a bounty hunter who has been hired to bring in Charles Grodin's altruistic embezzler, who has stolen millions from a Las Vegas crime boss and given it to charity. A rival bounty hunter, mob goons and FBI agents are also after him. The way in which these various elements cross paths and converge for a suspenseful finale is just one of the marvels of this well-constructed script. The interplay between DeNiro and Grodin is even more wonderful. There are no jokes here, but the two characters are so well-drawn and mismatched that the laughs are inherent in the situation. The two lead actors do masterful jobs and develop a chemistry that pushes this film toward the top of my list of favorite movies.
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Summary: "Midnight Run" not short on suspense
Review: Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin star is this action-packed suspense thriller with a touch of comedy in between. Bounty hunter Jack Walsh (De Niro) is in pursuit of a hypochondriac-type accountant named Jonathan Mardukas (Grodin), whom Walsh gains custody and must return Mardukas from New York to L.A. in order to collect a $100,000 reward. The two men encounter intrigue and danger on this journey, and switch to various modes of transportation to keep the F.B.I. off their trail. Although the writers of the script tried to make this picture into a comedy, the action and suspense overshadow the few comedy scenes, so they (the comedy scenes) don't come out too good in the wash. Even though the intrigue keeps "Midnight Run" moving at a rather slow pace, there's somewhat of a climactic build-up toward the end that may keep you on the edge of your seat. De Niro's straight character combined with Grodin's introverted comedy character give the film's script an even balance, although in various scenes Grodin's character proves to be just as straight as De Niro's. If you like your movies with an overabundant "cops and robbers" feel, then "Midnight Run" will suit you just fine. Add it to your must-have video library!
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Summary: Midnight Fun !
Review: If you merely read a dry plot description of this film it would seem to be just another in a seemingly endless parade of buddy buddy fish out of water formula action genre pictures. You got your bounty hunters, mob guys, feds, car chases, shoot-outs, and characters spewing out profanities like East Coast dock workers directed by (the guy who helped make Eddie Murphy a huge star with Beverly Hills Cop,)Martin Brest. (And take note, the film features lots of profanity.) What makes this a genuine 24 karat hit among the fools gold of its genre is its actors. Robert DeNiro and Charles Grodin you expect to be pretty good of course, but their chemistry together is that rare cinematic commodity when two seemingly incongruent stars mesh perfectly playing off each others strengths and weaknesses in a comic dance that only a few comedy teams (Laurel and Hardy for instance) enjoyed. DeNiro never steps out of character or alters his timing to get or milk a laugh. While Grodin could be accused of doing this in a few scenes, it remains remarkable he more than holds his own literally handcuffed to Robert DeNiro for most of the films running time. Together they bring scenes to life and get laughs in remarkable ways. A great example of this is in a scene taking place in a bus-station. DeNiro is trying to put a bus ticket on his credit cart (which he doesn't realize has been cancelled). When the credit card doesn't work, he gets angry at the lady behind the ticket counter and tries to use the FBI badge he borrowed to get him a ticket. But the lady of course realizes the badge is a phony. Charles Grodin as Duke who is handcuffed to DeNiro, doesn't say a word. Yet while DeNiro gets frustrated and almost verbally abuses the woman behind the counter Grodin is able to bind with the woman by some sympathetic facial gestures which almost immediately makes the woman behind the counter trust him completely.. It's a classic scene. . . yet it's classic only because of what the actors' are doing, playing off each other. Later Grodin takes command to scam some money from a small tavern so they can eat. He's masterful in the scene though leaves ample room for DeNiro to be an integral part of the humor of the scene. But the actors are working as a team, not trying to top each other at all. Now I could stop right here and you'd probably agree it sounds pretty promising. But there's more. Every single supporting actor in this film is near-perfect. While a couple of the characters are written as buffoonish henchmen type, even the actors portraying these wise guy low-lifes add a dimension you wouldn't believe possible. Let's give some quick kudo's to Joe Pantoliano (once upon a time of Hill Street Blues, and recently of The Matrix), Dennis Farina, John Ashton,and Yaphet Koto. Even Phillip Baker Hall shows up well cast as mob boss Farina's legal counsel. The reason everyone seems to be at the top of their game has a lot to do with director Martin Brest, who consistently lets his actors 'breathe' and have moments and pauses to add bits of nuance to their performances. He really did a wonderful job of this in Going in Style and even succeeded in turning what easily could have been a chaotic mess, Beverly Hills Cop (since it was originally written for Stallone), into an enjoyable action comedy. Just look at the failed sequels without Brest at the helm. As a screenplay, 1988's Midnight Run is almost formula 'high concept' stuff. There's a nice set up and some well written lines from writer George Gallo (which is nothing to sneeze at) , but mostly it's the actors, director and film editor that give the material all of its juice. It helps that you've got some great get boogie- blues theme music from Danny Elfman, which is used to get some additional laughs. Robert De Niro plays bounty hunter Jack Walsh, an ex-Chicago cop who negotiates a $100,000 fee from a Los Angeles bail bondsman (Joe Pantoliano) if he can bring in Jonathan 'the Duke' Mardukas (Charles Grodin), an accountant who ran off with $15 million belonging to mobster (Dennis Farina) within 5 days. Almost immediately Walsh knows this isn't like any case he's every taken before. He has a history with Chicago mobster which somehow ended his police career in Chicago. There's also the FBI who suddenly know he might be trying to find the Duke, and they want him to turn the guy over to them if he finds him. F.B.I. agent Alonzo Mosely (Yaphet Kotto) tries to scare Jack Walsh a little bit, which ends in Walsh borrowing Alonzo's i.d. Walsh cleverly and very quickly tracks down Mardukas (Grodin) and tries to take him on an airplane to Los Angeles. Two mob goons (Richard Foronjy and Robert Miranda) show up and offer to pay Walsh off to hand over the Duke. Walsh will have none of this and gets the Duke onto the airplane safely. But the Duke starts acting odd, telling Walsh he has a problem with flying. When he begins to hyperventilate, they are booted off the plane. Waiting for the plane in Los Angeles are the bail bondsman and FBI guy Alonzo Mosely. However Walsh and the Duke aren't on the plane.. The bail bondsman hires another bounty hunter (John Ashton) to track him down, the FBI rush off following a lead. What follows is a succession of chases by train, helicopter and automobile in which the mob goons, bounty hunter, and F.B.I. try to catch up with the pair. As Walsh and the Duke rush to get to Los Angeles and avoid everyone who is after them, the Duke constantly whines and needles Walsh for personal information which he might somehow be able to use to manipulate Walsh and escape. A bond is formed between the men, and a respect slowly grows between them. None of this aspect of the film should come as any surprise, since it's part of the formula of the standard buddy picture. At first the two 'buddies' hate each other and then learn to accept each other, and then come to respect each other. Grodin and DeNiro manage to play very real and quite endearing characters, finding a natural humor in their situation and relationship that is infectious. What is surprising is how funny and even warm this exciting action comedy actually is. Midnight Run is a film that should be on your list of must-sees. Don't miss it. Chris Jarmick
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Summary: An important addendum
Review: I posted a review here December 1 for this film -- I wanted to add that one of the little known, standout performances here was by an actress named Danielle Duclos, who plays Robert De Niro's daughter. She has the kind of part that makes everyone want to live by solid principles, and I bet her brief part had some kind of positive impact on someone out there. She has not been in many other films, but hey, she's only in her mid-twenties, it's still possible. Let's root for her, she added a lot to this film, as far as I'm concerned.
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