BEFORE: This is here to complete a Richard Dreyfuss chain, although at least three actors carry over for this sequel. As time moves on, I realize that future generations are going to ask some difficult questions about the 1980's - like "How did you all survive without cell phones?" and "What happened to all of the polar bears?" and (perhaps) "Why did it take six years to make a sequel to a movie?" Well, kids, that's just the way it was. If a film was an unexpected hit, sometimes it took that long to get the cast back together, especially if they were busy with other projects. You kids end up getting spoiled anyway when there's a new "Hobbit" film released around the same time every year.
THE PLOT: Prankster cops Chris and Bill are joined by Gina from the DA's office to stakeout a lakeside home.
AFTER: The other thing about franchise films in the 1980s/1990s - when a formula worked, people didn't mess with it. If you look at the "Lethal Weapon" franchise, they (more or less) made the same film 4 times, just change the villains and maybe add one cast member to the rotation.
But this film is anything but subtle, it's loud and stuff blow up real good, and the expositional dialogue is so bad that the simplest bits of information are repeated three or four times. Example: "The witness isn't dead." "You mean she's ALIVE?" Umm, yeah, things that aren't dead usually tend to be alive. Every character also can't help but introduce themselves in the simplest terms - "I am a prosecuting attorney. That means I'm an attorney who prosecutes people." Right, thanks for the help.
Once again, there's someone headed for the Seattle area, only this time it's a testifying witness, and not an escaped convict. So there's that. But a lot remains the same - our heroes manage to rent property just across the way, within range of binoculars and cameras. Yet the people in question never put two and two and wonder why the new neighbors keep standing by their windows holding surveillance equipment.
They also can't maintain their cover stories for more than 5 minutes - so I'm confused, why set up this situation with false identities if they get abandoned so quickly? How do people who can't remember a fake backstory get assigned to this detail in the first place? And why do I bother looking for logical answers in a film that doesn't care to provide any?
It's nice to see that 6 years later, Chris is still with his girlfriend that he met on the previous stakeout, however she picks this exact time to get frustrated with his lack of commitment, so she's conveniently absent when he needs to go on this stakeout. I guess this explains why he's distracted all the time, and makes so many mistakes (what are the other two characters' excuses?).
Wisely, they never made "Stakeout 3", or "Yet Another Stakeout" or even a prequel film with younger actors that showed how they two leads became friends during their first stakeout together. So thank heaven for small victories.
EDIT: It's funny that a plot point was having both cops shave their mustaches before going undercover, because today happens to be the day each year I shave mine - in accordance with the first day of summer. An odd but appreciated coincidence.
EDIT #2: It also occurred to me, after the fact, that a great rule of comedy was broken here. They mention at the start of the stakeout that our heroes would be staying in the vacation home of a judge, and that it was VERY important that nothing happen to the house, it needed to remain in pristine condition, or else there'd be hell to pay. I don't think I'm at risk of spoiling the ending by pointing out that, for the most part at least, that's what happens - the house makes it through the film OK, except for maybe a few bullet holes. Well, that's not funny at all, is it? If we've learned anything from teen comedies, it's that the situation becomes much funnier if the house ends up in ruins. If not, then what was the reason for pointing out that the house should NOT be damaged? What a missed opportunity, that house should have suffered the same fate as the witness hideout earlier in the film - and that would have allowed for some clever foreshadowing as well.
Also starring Emilio Estevez (carrying over), Rosie O'Donnell, Dennis Farina (last seen in "Striking Distance"), Cathy Moriarty (last seen in "Neighbors"), Marcia Strassman (last seen in "Honey I Blew Up the Kid"), Miguel Ferrer (last heard in "Mulan"), John Rubinstein, Dan Lauria (carrying over) and Madeleine Stowe (carrying over, but uncredited for some reason)
RATING: 3 out of 10 shaved mustaches
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