Kuffs (1992)

Strong and Moving!

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Don't get me wrong, it's a cheesy 90s action comedy. But it's a great cheesy 90s action comedy. You got Christian Slater of Heathers, playing the snarky, irresponsible, but lovable George Kuffs. He finds out his girlfriend Maya (Played by future RE Star Milla Jovovich) is pregnant and leaves her to find a way to get some money from his more responsible Patrol Special brother Brad (Played by Tron himself Bruce Boxleitner). While the latter is not too happy about the former's slacker routine, he obliges only for tragedy to strike when he is gunned down by an assailant. George finds out he inherited his brother's district and rather than sell it, he decides to run it, using the resources available to him to find his brother's killer. Upon training he is assigned to Ted (Tony Goldwyn of Ghost), an SFPD officer tasked to showing him the ropes. It's a movie of thrills, spills and bleeped out cursing and it's worth the watch.

Remember when Christian Slater was actually relevant? Yeah. Me neither and it makes me sad to be honest. I've always thought Slater was an underrated actor, and it's kind of a shame how he's gone down the DTV path like Cuba Gooding Jr. has… He made a cult classic called Heathers (One of my favorites!) and also had some hits, and misses. This is one of those misses. That doesn't mean I'm not gonna give it a fair amount of merit. It never bored me, and I was somewhat entertained by it. It has some decent action in it, and the pacing is always adequate. Slater & Tony Goldwyn are a hoot together, and the gorgeous Mila Jovovich makes an early appearance. My problem was I didn't think Slater's character showed enough aggression at times. He was very entertaining, and showed off that charm as per usual, but dude… your brother died. He had one too many grins in intense situations for my liking. Other than that, I dug Slater's role. Milla Jovovich does fine in one of her early roles as the love interest. She wasn't always Mrs. Resident Evil. Final Thoughts: Slightly above average film that has just enough going for it to warrant a recommendation. You'll forget it pretty quickly, but it's a decent choice if nothing else is available. 6/10

This film has decent camp value, which is actually helped by the passage of time, because it is now even more evident how ridiculous early-90s fashion was. Hence, the villain with the T-shirt of his own picture (which was actually a fad back then) is even more hilarious. Also, Evans took chances with creative camera shots and sound, and they paid off. This movie simultaneously pays homage to, and makes fun of, movies like Beverly Hills Cop...although Slater is not as funny or personable as Eddie Murphy. Jovovich, on the other hand, came across as very sweet and endearing, and looked very pretty...I wish she got more screen time. Hard to believe that was 20 years ago; she's aged well!You should focus on the film's irony to really appreciate its value. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and neither should you. However, in the end, there were too many mediocre and unfunny (even in an ironic way) lines and moments to justify recommending that you spend time watching this movie. If you do get dragged into watching it, however, you probably won't hate it. It's just...okay.For more reviews and a kickass podcast, check out www.livemancave.com

First, to get something out of the way; nhendley-1, did you even watch the movie? Or were you sleeping and just caught bits and pieces? It would be understandable that you could have been sleeping 15 minutes into the movie because it is awful, but doesn't help your argument. The police even stated that there were no fingerprints on the gun and if you would have watched the scene in the church you would have seen why. Second priority is to outline what I thought about the movie – oh, it was awful. It was an obvious attempt to just be a fun movie but it was far too frustrating with horrible dialog and acting to be tolerable, let alone fun.