Hollywood action hero researches his next role in the company of a tough New York cop: "capturing the essence of the police experience." A good idea for a comedy, good enough to have been given to a real artist instead of a Hollywood hack. The whole thing is thrown hopelessly out of whack by the serial-killer case around which it is structured -- which in the first place is not particularly comic, and in the second place is no less a fantasy and parody than the Indiana Jones-type films it is supposed to be in contrast to (though without quite their level of self-awareness). And then, James Woods as the hard-guy cop, "a Yoda among cops," is an even more flamboyant actor than Michael J. Fox as the pampered star. But maybe this is just Hollywood's subtle way of congratulating itself on its grasp of reality all along. With Stephen Lang and Annabella Sciorra; directed by John Badham. (1991) — Duncan Shepherd