Review by Susan Granger
½ star out of 4
Daniel Baldwin - not to be confused with brothers Alec and
Stephen - plays a not-too-bright Brooklyn cop, Bo Dietl, whose best
friend since childhood is a Mafioso (Michael McGlone). His partner
(Chris Penn) has never seen a doughnut that wasn't delicious, a drink
he wouldn't down, and a sporting event he wouldn't bet on so,
inevitably, you know trouble's ahead, particularly when the beefy,
streetwise duo solve a particularly savage rape/mutilation case for
which they're not given the credit they're due. Then, when Baldwin has
an affair with his Mafioso buddy's mistress, Gina Gershon, and Penn's
gambling debts mount up, you can just see the bullet-ridden
handwriting on the wall. Directed by a Brazilian, Bruno Barreto ("Four
Days in September"), this is second-rate, cliche-ridden melodrama by
Jeremy Iacone - with the only surprise engendered by the dour
appearance of Amy Irving (now Mrs. Barreto) as a tough-talking,
no-nonsense FBI agent. Never has this talented actress delivered a
more robotic performance. And, no, Stephen Baldwin is not the Baldwin
brother who was arrested on drug charges after trashing his suite at
Manhattan's Plaza Hotel - that's the admittedly self-destructive
Daniel - but Stephen looks stoned throughout this film. On the Granger
Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "One Tough Cop" is a plodding, predictable,
unimaginative 2. In some cases, a dumb title doesn't necessarily mean
a bad movie. In this case, it does. A better title would have been
"One Dumb Cop."
Copyright © 2000 Susan Granger
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out of 4
