Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Armed and Dangerous Blu-ray Movie Review

One of John Candy’s lesser comedies.

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater August 10, 2011

John Candy, how I miss thee. Uncle Buck, Canadian Bacon, and Planes, Trains and Automobiles were basic cable Sunday matinee staples when I was growing up, and there’s still something I find pure and comforting about Candy’s films from the 1980s to mid-1990s. They’re like transmissions from a simpler time. Before watching Armed and Dangerous yesterday, my wife and I came to a consensus on what made Candy so great: his vulnerability. He had an easily wounded quality that was funny but slightly glum. You hated to see anyone pick on him. Like most “big” comedians, he was self-deprecating about his physique, and he had an inherent goodness, even when he was playing characters who seemed--on the surface--to be rude or lazy or boorish. Of course, the fact that Candy passed away so tragically young also plays some part in our retroactive feelings about him. What’s sadder, after all--and, in a weird way, more endearing--than an overweight comedian who dies of a heart attack? I had never seen Armed and Dangerous before, so I was curious to find out how it stacked up against some of Candy’s better-known comedies. While I wasn’t completely disappointed--there are more than a few classic Candy moments--it hardly compares. This is fun but rather disposable comedy.

Candy plays Frank Dooley, an inept but upstanding LAPD officer--he even rescues cats from trees, or tries to, at least--who busts some corrupt, television-stealing cops only to have the tables turned on him just when Internal Affairs arrives on the scene. Framed for the burglary, a sad Dooley is summarily and unjustly dismissed from the force. Meanwhile, not-so-hotshot lawyer Norman Kane (Eugene Levy) is having a hell of a time defending a Charles Manson look-a-like who threatens to kill him if the court hands down a guilty verdict. The judge gives Kane some friendly advice: get out of the law game for good. Looking for work, Dooley and Kane meet at an orientation for a private security guard company (Guard Dog Security: We Don’t Just Bark, We Bite) and despite the massive union dues, they join up and get paired as partners. Their first night on the job, the industrial warehouse they’re guarding is robbed by a gang of ski-mask wearing goons, and as punishment for failing to stop the crime, Dooley and Kane are re- assigned to the worst possible gig--keeping watch over a landfill. It’s here, however, that they discover evidence of corruption inside the union-- embezzled dues, mandated theft, ties with the South American drug trade--and decide to go undercover to get some solid evidence. For help, they turn to their boss’ daughter, Maggie, played by a young Meg Ryan, who’s mostly here to look pretty. (Whether she succeeds or not is debatable; during one party scene she sports a haircut that, even by 1980s standards, is completely ridiculous.)

Bumbling hijinks. That’s the clearest way to sum up the film’s brisk 88-minute adventure. Dooley and Kane sneak into a party wearing powder blue, ruffle-shirted leisure suits. (Great disguise.) They go shark fishing off a pier, get stuck in a steam room with two blond bimbos, and sneak into an aerobics class in a 1980s-to-the-max gym, where Candy gawks lovably at ladies’ posteriors. At one point, pursued by union toughs, they hot-foot it into a sex shop, where they take convenient refuge in a peep show booth. This scene climaxes, so to speak, with the film’s funniest bit. Looking for a way out, Kane lures an amorous leather daddy and a buxom transvestite into the booth, and our heroes emerge in the duped perverts’ clothing. It’s truly a sight to behold: Levy in ass-less chaps and Candy in what I can only describe as a vinyl moo-moo, wearing a poofy wig and bright blue eye shadow. He looks like an obese Tammy Faye Bakker. The film’s real finale is a car chase through L.A.’s traffic-jammed highways, with Candy--now dressed as a WWI aviator, for some reason--commandeering a tanker truck and ordering its amped-up and all-too-willing cowboy driver to mow through the gridlock willy-nilly. Without giving away too much, I’ll just say the end involves an ice cream truck, a rocket launcher, and an improbably huge explosion.

This is standard buddy cop comedy fare, and while it’s funny in patches--don’t tell me you’ve never wanted to see John Candy bite a Rottweiler on the snout--it’s never quite as brilliant as it should be considering its cast. The script is the biggest problem; it gives Dooley and Kane plenty to do, but it doesn’t give them any memorable or meaningful ways to play off or against one another. There’s no real tension between them, no drama. You’d think Meg Ryan would come into play as one corner of a love triangle, but that angle isn’t exploited at all. The writers responsible might surprise you. Armed and Dangerous was co-written by producer extraordinaire Brian Grazer--of Cowboys & Aliens, 24, and Arrested Development fame--along with Ghostbusters actor/writer Harold Ramis and James Keach, who played Jesse James in 1980’s The Long Riders and went on to produce the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line. While this isn’t the lowest point in any of their careers, it’s not exactly a zenith either. The same goes for the movie’s place in John Candy’s filmography; it falls between his star-making turn in 1984’s Splash and the supernova-sized exposure he would have in 1987 with both Spaceballs and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. He’s funny here--he very rarely wasn’t--but the material doesn’t give him much to work with.

Armed and Dangerous Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

There's a fairly consistent quality to Image Entertainment's catalog releases; they all look natural and clean--with intact grain and little to no print damage--but they don't appear to be restored in any way, besides maybe some light color grading. And for titles like Armed and Dangerous, which no one was exactly pining for, this is really the best case scenario. The film's 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer is as strong as you could expect from an '80s comedy of this ilk. Grain is quite chunky for most of the movie and there's also a good bit of chroma noise in the picture, although this won't be apparent unless you're either watching on a moderately large television or sitting really close to the screen. There's no smeary, detail-erasing noise reduction, and no traces of edge enhancement. While the level of clarity in the image will never wow you, it's certainly an improvement over DVD quality. The picture looks rather soft overall--this is partly attributable to the grainy film stock, which doesn't leave room for extremely fine textures--but close-ups reveal a better-than-standard-definition degree of detail. Color is balanced and suitably dense--never looking oversaturated or particularly wishy washy--and contrast is good. You'd never put this disc in to demo your television, but the transfer looks alright for what it is.

Armed and Dangerous Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Image Entertainment presents Armed and Dangerous with an uncompressed Linear PCM 2.0 stereo track that's rather underwhelming but certainly gets the job done. I don't expect anyone to take a third-tier comedy from the '80s like this and give its original stereo presentation a full-fledged 5.1 makeover--which entail more time and money than most distributers would be willing to spend--but the film could definitely sound better with some rear channel interaction and some LFE oomph. The film's shoot-outs and car chases and explosions are a bit wimpy as it stands; they sound clear enough, but the dynamic range is flat and there's a distinct lack of bass in the mix. Still, there's nothing particularly bad about this mix. The soundtrack has plenty of goofy '80s flair--think slap-bass and punchy synth lines--and the dialogue is always clean and easy to understand, with no background hiss, crackling, or muffling. The disc includes optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles.

Armed and Dangerous Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no bonus features whatsoever, not even a trailer. Bummer.

Armed and Dangerous Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

One of the less-remembered comedies starring John Candy, Armed and Dangerous is an inconsequential romp that has a few good laughs but simply can't compete with the roly-poly comic's best efforts. The movie has gotten a solid but understated upgrade on Blu-ray, so longtime Candy fans might want to check it out, but if you don't already have fond memories of the film, I'm not sure it's worth your time. I'll give this one a cautious, for- fans-only recommendation.