Un ange de trop

This little known fantasy action comedy released in 1990 is most notable for being an early screen appearance of Denzel Washington. Savaged by critics upon release, it has the distinguished honor of being one of a handful of films with a stunning 0% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. Misunderstood by critics and audiences alike at the time it came out, I think this film deserves to be reappraised. It's a great film, entertaining, funny, interesting for the concept alone, and maybe even a little moving depending on the mood you're in.

This film is weird though, for sure. It tries to be a little bit of everything: A buddy cop movie, a comedy, a romantic drama, and an action movie. It actually succeeds, at least somewhat, even if it's not perfect. I totally get the hate for this movie, I understand why it was savaged, and maybe it's just my love of Denzel that makes me soft to this, but I didn't mind it.

This film occurred during Denzel's strange string of films during his rise to success in the 80s and 90s. Denzel was obviously being nudged in the action star direction by his agent, which makes sense looking at his early career. It seems like for every successful, important film he did, he did another less successful, more exploitative action/thriller film; Mo' Better Blues/Heart Condition (1990), Mississippi Masala/Ricochet (1991), Much Ado About Nothing/The Pelican Brief (1993), Devil in a Blue Dress/Crimson Tide/Virtuosity (1995), He Got Game/The Siege (1998), The Hurricane/The Bone Collector (1999). Notice the pattern? Basically Denzel made a lot of great underrated films on his rise to success.

Bob Hoskins and Denzel Washington are both great in their roles, and Denzel is definitely likable even if his character is supposed to be sleazy and despicable. Hoskins isn't exactly likable, at least until halfway through the movie, but he does grow on you, and both actors definitely elevate the material above a dumb made-for-TV piece of crap.

This is described as an action comedy, but it's definitely more of a comedy with action in it. There're two action scenes, the car and foot chase in the beginning, and the final shootout. In between it's basically comedic dialogue and romantic drama. The film's drawn-out climax definitely feels like it belongs in another movie, and Hoskins isn't the first actor I'd've picked to see in a shootout (then again, I wouldn't've picked Denzel to play an obnoxious but funny ghost).

The movie's main problem is its tonal shifts. Any genre-hybrid movies will often have this problem, and this film does too. A light fantasy comedy sometimes, a heavy drama at others, and the violent climax all don't fit incredibly well-together, but it's fun so who cares? It just gave itself too many things to juggle at once, and a film shouldn't have to work too hard to achieve its purpose.

You have to go into this movie with low expectations, like me, and you'll probably be surprised, or you just have to be in a good mood.

You get the feeling, right from the opening images, this is a too serious film to be a comedy. I don't think I laughed at anything, except two things, and I'm not really sure if they were, that they were from this movie. Only a couple of things manage to carry this movie off, favorably. It's definitely the chemistry between two great actors + a great actress, sorely very underused. Bigoted cop, Hoskins playing the role to a nice tee, suffers a major heart attack, after years of eating those fast foods, we so much love. He has a transplant from a dead guy, Washington. Coincidentally, it's the slick lawyer of a former girlfriend/prostitute (the versatile Webb) he's been tailing. And guess what, after surviving the heart attack, he reappears, only for Hoskins's eyes, where he implores this cop, now re-assigned to desk duty, and a strict diet, to him find the killers, he fell afoul of. Denzel is perfectly suited for his role, where we are reminded of just how good an actor he is. Webb, an actress I like, is just as good, looking beautiful as Hoskins's girl, who has a secret of her own. The film doesn't work as a comedy, despite some cute dialogue of Washington, and some mad antics from Hoskins's parading as a nutso. Still as an entertaining crime adventure film, it works, mainly from it's contributing performances, where as an end treat, we have that great song by Bonnie Raitt It also again, raises that issue of health, where like me, a too little number are adverse to eating the healthy stuff.

In Los Angeles, the call girls Crystal Gerrity (Chloe Webb) and Peisha (Eva LaRue) are partying with the prominent Senator Marquand (Frank R. Roach) that has an overdose. Crystal keeps the film with the photos she had taken and together with Peisha, she meets the lawyer Napoleon Stone (Denzel Washington) that is her boyfriend. Meanwhile the racist and bigoted cop Jack Moony (Bob Hoskins) sees Stone in his car with Crystal, who was his girlfriend, and chases him despite the protest of his partner Harry Zara (Ray Baker) that wants to be promoted to detective. However Jack has a heart attack but is saved by the heart of Stone, who had a car accident. Out of the blue, Jack sees the ghost of Stone that tells him that he was murdered. Jack is forced to team-up with Stone to investigate who killed him. But no one else can see Stone but him.

"Heart Condition" is a strange film that is lost between comedy with heavy hand and crime. The plot is funny is some moments and violent in others. There are holes in the story, like for example, how Jack would explain the large amount that he had spent. In addition, this character is non-likable. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Uma Estranha Condição" ("A Strange Condition")

This movie was a bit mercurial--it started of terrible, then it seemed as if it was going to be a decent movie, then it changed for the worse.

Racist officer Jack Moony (Bob Hoskins) suffers a heart attack and receives a heart transplant from African-American lawyer Napoleon Stone (Denzel Washington). In came the extremely racist and crude jokes from his coworkers. This heart transplant came with more than bad jokes it came with the ghost of Napoleon Stone.

Initially, Denzel was hamming it up as Napoleon and it was uncomfortable to watch Denzel behave in such a manner. Then, the movie seemed to take a turn for the best: the dialogue got better, the plot made sense and all was right. Then, just as suddenly the movie became a chore to watch. The plot had holes and characters were behaving badly. The movie fizzled out even if it was a happy ending.

Not many shootouts no car chases but a few funny bits ok doesn't sound like the best film ever but its not that bad. Bob Hoskins plays detective Jack Mooney one night he has a heart attack and has to have a heart transplant sadly for him the heart of his worst enemy is the only one available.