Beverly Hills Cop

• Title:  Beverly Hills Cop
• Director:  Martin Brest
• Date:  1984
• Studio:  Paramount Pictures
• Genre:  Comedy, Action
• Cast:  Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, Ronny Cox, Jonathan Banks, Paul Reiser
• Format:  Color, Widescreen
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

Beverly Hills Cop is a very funny, action-packed cop movie with great music. Eddie Murphy is an unconventional Detroit Cop, and in the opening sequence he gets in trouble when his approach loses a bust and destroys several cop cars (not to mention a cab, a double-trailer semi, etc).  After a dressing down from his boss, he heads to his apartment and finds an old friend waiting.  The friend shows him some German bearer bonds, and plainly has something to tell him, but the two go out on the town instead and have a great time.  Upon returning to the apartment, Alex Foley (Eddie Murphy) is knocked out and his friend killed.  All of which is really on prelude, as Foley heads to Beverly Hills to find his friends' killer.

But what keeps this from being a conventional fish-out-of-water story is the humor - Eddie Murphy is funny, and this film showcases his talent well.  He also pulls off  the more dramatic scenes, making it believable that he's a cop who lost a good friend.

Judge Reinhold is excellent as the younger cop, whom Murphy sways to his unconventional, not exactly by -the-book method of doing police work.  And their are plenty of fun cameos.

The opening montage of  working Detroit is extremely well shot -- as is a parallel sequence of  Beverly Hills when Foley arrives.  The poverty and working-man's world of  Detroit is balanced against the rich play ground of  Beverly Hills.

There is a lot of bad language in the movie, which is probably the reason for the "R" rating, but over all it's just fun.

Recommendation:  An enjoyable film to see.
Rating:  3.8
Next Film:  Bewitched