I have never seen this movie, but I have heard many negative things about it. I've heard Eddie Murphy has apologized for his part in this debacle. I mean, was it just a crappy movie like Ishtar, or was it worse - i.e., offensive?
Just curious. Please don't make me have to watch this movie to find out what the fuss is all about! :-)
I'd say that it really didn't work, but not worthy of hate. Disappointment, yes, but not hate. (Note: I last saw this movie nearly 30 years ago. On Betamax, I think. But I remember the essentials.)
The basic idea was had some potential, but it took some work to figure out what was going on. The time shift between "now" when Eddie Murphy was driving the POS of a tank, and "then" when Dudley Moore was designing the tank, and why it turned out to be such a POS, was sort of hard to figure out. Even if you followed it, the movie dragged.
It was a lot more enjoyable if you lived in LA (as I did) and worked in the defense industry (as I did). A defense contractor running a major program out of a defunct bowling alley in Seal Beach, run by a retired and arrogant but basically clueless astronaut/general/whatever hits home in so many ways.
It really didn't work. The script seemed haphazardly assembled, full of stuff just to fill time. Eddie and Dudley both had a few gags, but it wasn't enough to hang a whole movie on.
(Some sources say that Murphy originally wasn't even in the film. The product was so lame they added the whole tank operator flash forward after the movie was finished. I can believe it. If true, they didn't improve it much.)
Not a home run, or even a single. More like a decent ground ball to the second baseman, out by three steps. It's lame, but it's certainly not awful. If you're looking for a really awful movie, look elsewhere. "Best Defense" doesn't even come close to "Birdemic" or "Baby Geniuses".
Well, it's time to go to work. I have to finish the analysis of my Dyp Gyro cooling system.
[deleted]
https://forgottenfilmcast.wordpress.com/2014/08/29/best-defense/
It is very obvious that Murphy’s scenes were tacked onto the film as a last-ditch effort to try and salvage this utter mess of a movie. Murphy himself admitted that he thought the script was terrible and only agreed to do it because Paramount threw a bunch a money at him. Murphy at least manages to squeeze a few chuckles out of the audience. For the most part, though, he’s trapped inside the cramped quarters of tank, with only two mildly offensive middle eastern characters to interact with. The opportunities for humor just aren’t there.share
For Moore it’s even worse. We don’t get the happy-go-lucky likable little British guy we’re used to seeing from Moore. His character is utterly repellent. He’s lazy, he’s a liar, and sexual harassment in the workplace seems to be a preferred hobby of his. I just can’t imagine how anyone involved in the making of this film could’ve thought for even a microsecond that this is a character that the audience would want to root for.
The biggest kicker of this whole mess is that the film sure seems to think very highly of itself. The whole time I’m watching this and reeling over how not a shred of it is funny, the movie seems to puff up its chest and think it’s making some sort of deep comedic commentary on the nature of war. After this how could anyone have been surprised by what happened with Howard the Duck. That ended up being the last film Hyuck would direct. It should have ended right here!
https://haphazardstuff.com/best-defense-1984-movie-review/
A lot of the humor are silly sex jokes aimed at Shaver. The supporting characters are incredibly forgettable and have nothing to do other than to be someone Moore can interact with.
In fact, Moore’s character is not very likable at all. You know how in many of his best films Moore’s characters have a sweet edge to them? They might act selfish and immature at times, but we can see there’s kindness just under the service. Here, Moore just acts lecherous and panicked. There is nothing endearing about his character or any fun watching him.
He’s married to Kate Capshaw, has a son and is attempting an affair with Shaver. He’s not a guy I’m rooting for. In fact, I don’t have any sympathy towards this jerk and think he deserves what he gets when the FBI corners him.
Best Defense 1984 Dudley Moore comedy Helen Shaver terrible awful. I think the only moment my ears perked up during the entire Moore section of this movie is when we hear Capshaw hum the theme to Raiders of the Lost Ark. That got me to pause and say, “Oh, that’s a bit of an inside joke since she was in Temple of Doom.”
As for Murphy’s bit, there’s not much else to say about it. He also does a lot of screaming at the breaking down tank. He tosses out a few amusing lines, but it wouldn’t be enough to buy a ticket to see this, no matter how much of fan you are of Murphy.
This just ended up as a strange project for him that he didn’t need – other than getting a hefty payday out of it. Fortunately, for him he shook off Best Defense like a minor cold. At the end of 1984 Beverly Hills Cop would be release and it would cement him as one of the most popular stars of the 1980s.
After reading all these comments it seems like Marketing killed the movie, rather than it being a particularly bad movie.
The poster promised An Eddie Murphie buddy movie - and didnt deliver.
Similarly The Media(rather than the marketing dept) killed Waterworld before it had a chance, regardless of wether it was any good or not
Because it is pretty bad.
share