Bulletproof (1996)

Very disappointing...

Absolutely Fantastic

In truth, any opportunity to see the film on the big screen is welcome.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Watching the new disposable Ernest Dickerson action-comedy "Bulletproof," a cops and robbers buddy picture with Damon Wayans and Adam Sandler as the buds, is like munching great junk food. You know it isn't what you should be eating. Nevertheless, it smells delicious and makes you smack your lips together when you chew. The action scenes, when the bad guys (sometimes even the good guys) get the cream puffs kicked out of them, contain a lot of crunch. The crude-oil "Saturday Night Live" comic scenes, which only anal retentive Neanderthals would savor as instructive, are uproariously self-effacing. Serious film genre scholars may give an appreciative nod to "Bulletproof" simply because it triggers happier memories from classic action pictures, such as Clint Eastwood's "The Gauntlet" (1977), Sam Peckinpah's "The Killer Elite" (1974), and the 1958 Tony Curtis & Sidney Poitier version of "The Defiant Ones." Nobody but the average moviegoers who really knows the two perquisite words in movie-going—fun and fake—will truly appreciate this potboiler of a melodrama, with comedy tosses in a spice, for what it aspires to be.The corpses pile up as fast as the clichés in the derivative Joe Gayton and Lewis Colick screenplay. As Detective Keats, Damon Wayans is cast as an undercover cop who convinces Moses (Adam Sandler's dopey but likable criminal blunder brain) that he is his best friend. The trouble begins when Keats bonds a little too well with Moses. Keats feels personally committed to bringing Moses in alive and well. When they try to reel in the kingpin mobster, a wealthy used car salesman played with gleeful abandon by James Caan of "The Godfather." Keats concerns himself more Moses' welfare than the bust. In a weird "Pulp Fiction" torque of events, Moses shoots Keats in the head but neither kills nor cripples him.Moses freaks out, leaves for Mexico, with his pooch (one of those magpie-looking Spuds McKenzie types) to become a bullfighter. The law catches up with Moses, and he agrees to testify against his boss (James Caan) on the condition that Keats serve as his bodyguard. Although Damon Wayans is a truly gifted comic, he could take lessons from his brother Keenen Ivory about playing beefy, tough-guys. Damon acts more like his "Major Payne" character here when he should have used his rugged quarterback hero from "The Last Boy Scout." He is a cheese cake action hero here. But it is fun to watch the antics of Wayans and Sandler (a foul-mouthed, 1950s' era Jerry Lewis wannabe) as they blunder through a series of impossible obstacles. The filmmakers serve up seemingly non-stop action like a Saturday Morning television cartoon. They plunge our bulletproof heroes into several unreal but really predictable predicaments. Eventually, the action brings our buddies to the big shoot'em up in James Caan's palatial residence and at least one surprise. If you figure out that surprise before the Dickerson and company reveal it, you have obviously gone into the wrong theater."Juice" director Dickerson got his start as a cinematographer for Spike Lee in epics such as "Do The Right Thing," makes "Bulletproof" look more visually slick and sophisticate than it deserves to be considering how imitative it remains. Each shot contains imaginative compositional elements that you won't be able to savor on a small screen. The lighting is extremely well-done. Actor James Farentino, who plays Wayan's sinister police department superior, is lighted so evocatively that he appears suspicious.Dickerson's big problem here is that the headlong action must break intermittently at all comedy stops. "Bulletproof" employs comedy to insulate its audiences from the effect of thinking too much about the wildly improbable scenes of simulated violence that recur throughout the film. After somebody gets iced, a joke is delivered to make you forget that they've been killed or, in the case of our heroes, escaped certain death.James Caan indulges himself as the used car salesman drug lord. In one scene, he removes his toupee so it won't get dirty during a showdown with Wayans. Caan gives his villainy the appropriate inflection for the kind of hokum that pads out "Bulletproof." He is nowhere near the bastard that he was in the Arnold Schwarzenegger thriller "Eraser." The usual quota of souped-up car chases, gunfights, and four-letter oaths ought to delight hardcore action fans, but they may miss the more amorous matings that occur in the more dramatic male sagas. Composer Elmer Bernstein enhances the super-charged action scenes with some humming, hipster-cool incidental music, especially in the introductory urban car chase scene. "Bulletproof" is definitely no classic, but it has its share of entertaining moments.

Bulletproof (1996) *** (out of 4) After agreeing to testify against a drug lord (James Caan), lowlife Moses (Adam Sandler) ends up with the undercover cop (Damon Wayans) that originally busted him. The two end up out on the road with hit men and dirty cops after them trying to make sure Moses can't get to court but the biggest threat for the two men are each other. If you're looking for a smart and intelligent film then you're not going to find it here but if you're just looking for a good time then the two stars really deliver. There's no question that this is a "B" movie as there's nothing ground-breaking here and you're not going to have your life changed in any way, shape or form. BULLETPROOF has a simple plot that's just meant to give the two stars something to work their magic with. I think the strongest point of the film are its two stars because they share some terrific chemistry and really take the material and do something special with it. The majority of the humor is silly R-rated stuff like porn jokes, urine jokes and other things like that but the way Wayans and Sandler sells it makes it funny. There are some hilarious moments here including a Disneyland joke early in the picture and the constant banter between the two really works well. The two actors really make you believe their characters and this allows the situation to be funny and especially in the scenes where Wayans pretty much abuses Sandler over the issue that happened at the start of the film. Caan is pretty much just being himself and picking up a paycheck but he's always worth watching and it's fun to see him here. BULLETPROOF also contains some fun action scenes, is well-directed and really just delivers nice laughs.

I actually wanted to like Bulletproof, despite my general dislike for Adam Sandler, because I like buddy movies and James Caan is a great actor. I give Bulletproof some credit for some slickly shot shoot-out sequences, but other than that everything else feels wrong to me. When I think of a good buddy movie, I think of likable characters, juicy dialogue to savour and some dynamicism in the action sequences. Some people watching Bulletproof may find these things, and I do respect that, however for me what I found here was the complete opposite on all counts. I really didn't care for any of the characters, finding them clichéd and annoying, especially Sandler's character. In fact, I found myself rooting more for the villains, but wished there was more to them. Bulletproof just wasn't funny to me either, I love action movies with comedy when it is good, but apart from one or two mildly amusing parts the dialogue was corny and the jokes rather tasteless. There is nothing dynamic about the action sequences, they may be slickly shot but the way they are choreographed at times is inept and the complete lack of subtlety in the violence leaves a bad taste in the mouth afterwards. The story is predictable with very little coming across as truly thrilling, while all the performances fall flat. Sandler has definitely done worse and more irritating performances, but his performance consists of near-unintelligible mumbling and I found myself annoyed by his character right from the start. Damon Wayans fares better, having more charisma, but the dialogue is so lame, the chemistry between him and Sandler so forced and the character so clichéd, it comes across as a wasted effort. James Caan is a great actor, but the first thought that came into my head after finishing Bulletproof was, what on earth was he doing here? He tried, but deserved so much better. Overall, a movie I wanted to like, but apart from one or two small things it didn't deliver. 1/10 Bethany Cox

I had never heard of this movie before. I was looking in the Video Hire place one night and found the side cover of a movie called "BulletProof." I knew I was gonna get it. So I got it straight away. Brought it home and pressed play. I was 99% sure it was going to be great. The second I started it, it was action. This movie never bored me once, not even for half a second. The direction is excellent. The acting is superb and the movie gets straight down to business. I don't know how it does this, but somehow it manages to be action and comedy all at the same time. It never gets boring. The laughs and the action keeps coming. This movie does consist of some pornographic material, but I wont go there, i'll keep this review appropriate. I recommend it to people who love action/comedy movies and who support and love the two main actors. 9/10