For fans of slapstick & VCA's (Veteran Character Actors)
8 November 2004
Drama, funny, & veteran character actors out the kazoo. Robert Morley (rest his soul) is great as the malicious bumbling nemesis, & Wilford Brimley is letter-perfect as the eccentric good-guy geezer. Jack Weston is stellar as sidekick, Brian Blessed is appropriately malevolent as Suleman Khan, & Timothy Bateson is 1st-rate as Morley's sniveling toady. All of this is overshadowed (but not over the top) by the absolutely perfect chemistry between Selleck & Armstrong, though. Yeah, sure, the conceit of the snotty-rich-girl-drives-the-heart-of-gold-tough-guy-crazy love story has been done to death, but never executed quite like this. These two make an on-screen couple at the level of Bogey/Bacall, Fred/Ginger, & George/Gracie.

Selleck's charisma normally dominates other actors' presence; Armstrong more than holds her own, which is saying a lot for any actress, much less one not on the A-list. The cinematography is exceptionally well-done. All in all, this is one seriously underrated flick, & a movie I'd buy in a heartbeat if it ever became available on DVD, which sadly I doubt it ever will. :(
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