Held Up (1999)

This is How Movies Should Be Made

Excellent but underrated film

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I was having kind of a bad day when I saw this, and I really needed this movie.It's a silly mess and won't win any awards, but it's something that could make me laugh without really using my brain or anything.John Cullum does a good job keeping his cool and staying in control no matter what. The robbers are incompetent and not really threatening. We even kind of sympathize with them after a while.Barry Corbin, John Cullum's "Northern Exposure" co-star, has his usual attitude and ends up going overboard in this case. And one more reminder of Cicely, Alaska--Jake Busey as a wise man who seems to know everything. Oh, wait, Ed wasn't wise but aspired to be a shaman. This man seemed to have arrived.One more highlight is the gorgeous dispatcher--Natalia Cigliuti of "Saved by the Bell", who wears short shorts while doing her nails when she is supposed to be tracking down the cops. It's amazing the incompetence of the police force. Barney Fife is a genius by comparison.And, of course, there is poor Jamie Foxx never knowing if he'll be able to catch up with his girl before it's too late. It's a fun adventure as he tries. I only wish he had a better car. I was never a fan of Studebakers but there were so many great cars in that era.I had fun.

I must admit, when I sat down to watch this, I was pleasantly surprised; it was funnier than I had imagined... however, with my expectations being very, very low, it doesn't really mean that the film is anything more than average. A pretty good amount of laughs, but nothing memorable. The ending seemed to be too much of a "happy ending" and was obviously done to open the film up to the mainstream crowd. The plot is decent enough, but it is obviously just written to put the characters in unlikely situations, and is at least a little too over-the-top. The pacing is pretty good, the film isn't really boring for the 90 minutes it lasts(then again, it isn't really *that* hard to make people laugh for an hour and a half). The characters are somewhat well-written, and one or more manage to rise above simply being tired stereotypes. The dialog is often quite humorous, and mostly well-delivered. The acting is decent, for a bunch of no-names; the only well-known actors in the cast are Jake Busey and Jamie Foxx, both of whom prove their worth as comedic actors. The humor is quite good, if a bit dull and predictable. The film has next to no memorable parts to it, though it is somewhat funny. All in all, an average comedy, and worth watching *once* if you can see it for free. I recommend it to fans of typical American comedies. If it's on TV, see it, unless you've seen it before. I have seen it once, and have no intention of seeing it again. 5/10

It is stereotyping but funny because the effort of Barry Corbin, John Cullum, Edurado Yanez and Jamie Foxx, who played those caricature roles with earnestness and subtlety. This is not for someone looking for a quick laugh fix. However, if you are willing to give the movie a chance, at the end you would find yourself rooting for the happy ending despite the absurdity of it. I really like the chemistry between Foxx and Yanez. Overall, a quite entertaining movie for people with a little patience.

Even Jamie Foxx himself was embarrassed to be part of this mediocre comic vehicle. But it really isn't as bad as most critics and audiences felt. The problem is Jamie is about the only lifeforce in this badly written comedy. He noticeably wasn't reciting lines straight from the script, b/c his one-liners were the main elements that kept this movie afloat. He holds his own, even when it reaches the peak of comic lameness. And I did laugh a few times, chuckled more though. But you can't help but feel "Held Up" didn't reach up to its potential, in fact it comes far from it. However, it's not a bad film. It's overall pretty harmless and mildly likeable. But there are much better comedies out there. And this is the least funniest of Jamie's work.