Robert Schwentke

Basic buddy cop action comedy with some fantasy gimmicks thrown in. Reynolds plays a bit more restrained version of the charming quipster hero character he nearly always plays (admittedly very well), surprisingly leaving Bridges and a sublimely weird Parker to provide most of the comedy in the film, which they do very well. Which is a good thing, as that's the main source of entertainment here. There are no surprises in this plot, the final act is a bit too much of an emotionless CGI fest, and I don't care at all for the pointless monster designs (the film would have been better if the dead just looked dead, honestly) -- but there are plenty of good bits, notably the mentioned humour and, a pleasant surprise, in some of the emotional beats. The romance between Reynolds and his widowed wife is thin and by-the-numbers, but played with enough emotion and sweetness by the both of them to make me care a bit. And the slow but inevitable change from grudges to friendship between Bridges and Reynolds is similarly well played, especially on the part of Bridges, who genuinely touched me in the scene where he clearly gets actually hurt by the other's words. And Bacon seems to delight in his part -- which like so much else in the film is a two-dimensional archetype on paper, but is another character infused with enough personality by the actor that he's good fun to watch. A breezy, largely forgettable film, but not a bad way to spend 95 minutes.… (mehr)