Kuffs (1992)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Written by Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon
Original Songs & Music by Harold Faltermeyer
Directed by Bruce A. Evans
Starring Christian Slater, Milla Jovovich, Bruce Boxleitner, Leon Rippy, Tony Goldwyn, Ashley Judd

Features:

• Theatrical Trailer
  

My Advice: Rent it

George Kuffs (Slater) is a bum of a high school dropout who has just found out that his girlfriend (Jovovich) is pregnant. His brother (Boxleitner) is a Police Special in San Francisco--these are basically cops who own their own police districts and are paid by their clients to help protect their businesses. His brother is gunned down on his birthday, just after having dinner with Kuffs. So suddenly, our hero finds himself the proud owner of a Police Special district. He decides to keep his brother's business and take his revenge on his brother's killer, but of course there's more going on that just homicide...

There are several times in this movie where it can't decide whether it wants to be an action movie or a comedy, but thankfully it falls on the side of comedy. Slater is a very comical guy and this script really works for his type of humor. He narrates the story in real-time (a la Ferris Bueller) and some of his one-liners, luckily, bring the funny. Jovovich is everything that she was supposed to be...beautiful. However, the movie is not really about their relationship. And everyone else in the cast is really just there to make Slater look good and, for the most part, they know their job and do it well. It really just comes down to a late-80s style cop comedy that hit just as the genre was becoming old and trite. Oh yeah, and here's a challenge for bonus point: find Ashley Judd in this movie! See if you can!

The DVD is quite shallow, sadly. With the exception of the trailer for the movie, there are no special features on the disc whatsoever. I seem to remember seeing some kind of behind-the-scenes featurette when this movie was first in the theatres, so it's a shame someone didn't dig that up for the DVD. Other than that, a commentary track with Slater and the director would have be nice. Or better yet, this kind of movie practically begs for a gag reel. I mean, the stuff with Slater talking to the camera opens up a whole world of possibilities. At least it's in widescreen format; I guess we should be thankful for that.

The movie is enough fun to fall on the rental list, but until they release a special edition DVD that's where it stays. Even Slater completists might want to wait until that future day.