I went into the third installment of Eddie Murphy's BEVERLY HILLS COP saga with very low expectations, but I must admit that it was better than I expected, I had a few good laughs, and it was nice diversion. On the other hand, I can not recommend it.

There are some funny scenes. Bronson Pinchot from the first BEVERLY HILLS COP is back again with a small part. This time he is running a weapons boutique rather than an art gallery. Pinchot's boutique features the 3 Ps (protection, prestige, and pretty) and has the slogan "why should you look ugly when you are trying to survive". Pinchot's machine gun, CD player, TV, and microwave oven combination and how Murphy uses it is the only really hilarious scene in the show.

So what was wrong with it? The director, John Landis, and lack of energy. I keep wanting to tell Murphy to go get some caffeine - lots of it. It was as if this was BEVERLY HILLS COP 15 and Eddie was now 80 years old playing Axel Foley one last time before Murphy retired from acting. There are some scenes in the show where Murphy is his old self again, and they are excellent. The director's pacing, the editing (Dale Beldin), and the way the director had Murphy playing the role were all sad.

BEVERLY HILLS COP 3 runs long at 1:44. It is rated R for bloody violence and filthy language. I guess it would be okay for teenagers. I give the movie * 1/2 as they were some good parts, and I managed to have an enjoyable time waiting for Murphy to wake up periodically and act.

Now for three pieces of trivia. First, my whole family is in the movie. 90% of it is set in Great America (called Wonderworld in the movie). We were there when they were filming the scene on the triple looper ride (beats me what it is called). If you look very carefully, you can see 3 ants way down on the ground. We ARE those ants! We could not see us, but I know we are there. I will see us when I freeze frame that laser disc next year. Maybe you can find us. Prizes are possible to the first reported sighting.

Second, they added many rides to Great America to make it look more like an amusement park, and it was made by the people, Paramount, that own the park! It was fun the day we were there seeing all of the imported rides that were used only in the movie. A couple of the fictional rides, I really wish they had. The dinosaur ride looked especially neat.

Third, I have had dinner three times with Bronson Pinchot. We were staying on a remote Caribbean Island (Young Island off St. Vincent) in 1986, and he was there by himself. He was really funny in person but kind of lonely. One of his best stories was about the filming of THE FLAMINGO KID. It was set at a posh Long Island resort in the summer. Actually, to get the place, they had to film it all in Long Island in November. They nearly froze to death in their swimming suits. They had gofers on the set whose sole job was to hold big towels around the stars until the director yelled action and then they let them loose. Because of the wind noise they had to dub most of the speech later. This was a problem because their speech pitch was accentuated due to the cold and so they had trouble dubbing their own words later.