With Jim Sabatini

The Last Boy Scout

Rated: R For language and violence.
Reviewed by: Frank and Chris
Release date: December 13, 1991

What is it about private detectives that most of them have trashy cars and offices, drink too much and have a three day stubble? Bruce Willis, as Joe Hallenbeck, keeps up the tradition. He's a down-on-his-luck P.I. who has trouble coming up with enough change to buy cigarettes that he chain smokes (probably the reason he's always in a bad mood). Joe is unhappily married with a bratty 13-year-old daughter with a foul mouth.

He's hired by an exotic dancer for protection. When she's killed by a flurry of machine gun blasts, Joe and her boyfriend, Jimmy Dix (Damon Wayans) team up to find her killers. Dix is an ex-foot ballplayer, kicked off the L.A. Stallions team for drugs and gambling. They find pictures and a tape used for blackmail in his girls' apartment. The tape is of Stallion's owner, Sheldon Marcone (Noble Willingham) bribing a senator for his favorable vote to legalized sports betting.

Willis character is a whiney grouch, but Wayans is a likable character with an easy smile and manner. Taylor Negron (part-time standup comic), plays a hired killer who really enjoys his job.