Review: The Last Boy Scout (1991)

The Last Boy Scout (1991)

Rated R for graphic violence and very strong language

Score: 4 out of 5

The Last Boy Scout is a wild, unwieldy, and immensely entertaining buddy-cop action flick cut from the same cloth as Lethal Weapon, not much of a surprise given that Shane Black wrote both movies. It's a movie that opens with an over-the-top song that would make for a legitimately good intro to an NFL broadcast, followed by a prologue of a football player (played by Billy Blanks in a cameo) shooting three members of the opposing team on the field before killing himself. The plot of the film is one that has only become sadly relevant in the years since 1991, especially as sports betting has been legalized and normalized as just a regular part of the professional sports landscape. It's got Bruce Willis at the height of his glory post-Die Hard playing a salty private eye, a young Damon Wayans in a role that, while more dramatic than anything on In Living Color, still supplies a lot of funny moments in his interactions with Willis, and director Tony Scott delivering a ton of exciting, spectacular action scenes. It's a shallow film that's mostly an excuse to have Willis and Wayans do their thing, but that alone is enough to make it practically obligatory viewing during football season.

Our protagonists are both disgraced men. Joe Hallenbeck is a private detective and former Secret Service agent who lost his last job after he punched out a senator he caught raping a woman. Jimmy Dix is a former star quarterback for the Los Angeles Stallions (because like hell the NFL would let them use real team names in a movie like this) who was fired and banned from the league as the chronic pain caused by his injuries on the field led to drug addiction and, from there, involvement in gambling. Together, They Fight Crime -- specifically by uncovering a gambling ring within the league that's scheming to get sports betting legalized in order to make it a more exciting experience for viewers, damn the consequences (gambling addiction, game-fixing), and is willing to kill in order to do it. It's the kind of suspicion of authority and rich fat cats that, almost as much as witty buddy-cop banter, I've noticed is something of a trend in Shane Black's screenplays, and while it's an altogether shallow treatment of sports betting that serves largely as background flavor, it's a story that predicted, decades before the rise of DraftKings and FanDuel, just how corrosive it would be to sports in general. (One change, though: I would've had the shadowy hitman in the opening threatening to kill the running back if he wins instead of loses, since throwing matches and point-shaving are how a lot of sports betting scandals go down in real life.)

The heart and soul of the film is Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans as Joe and Jimmy, both deeply troubled men who mean well but are otherwise plagued by all manner of demons. Joe's strong moral code gets him compared to a Boy Scout (hence the title), but it also ruined his career once it put him on a collision course with the powerful crooks who run everything, while Jimmy was chewed up and spit out by a corrupt sports league that wore down his body and then blamed him for the resulting drug addiction. They're both bitter, cynical assholes, but they have damn good reason to be. Willis was always a master of action movie snark, and his talent for such is on full display here as he has to put up with indignities from everyone around him, not least of all his estranged wife and his rebellious daughter. Wayans, meanwhile, gets the more serious role as a guy who's pissed at the world and jumped head-first into hedonism as his life fell apart, but one who's not all that different from Joe except that his vices aren't as socially acceptable as alcoholism. Two guys who look like polar opposites, especially in the contrast between Joe's blue-collar status and Jimmy's fame and fortune (highlighted in a great exchange involving Jimmy's $650 leather pants), but turn out to have a lot more in common than they think is ripe material for a buddy comedy, and Willis and Wayans have great buddy chemistry together. The supporting cast, too, is filled with character actors giving fun performances, whether it's Noble Willingham as the villainous team owner Marcone, Taylor Negron as the terrifying hitman Milo, a young Halle Berry as Jimmy's stripper girlfriend Corey, or a young Danielle Harris stealing the show as Joe's daughter Darian, feeling almost like a prototype for Angourie Rice's character in The Nice Guys in terms of being what happens if you gave Nancy Drew the mouth of a sailor. (And now I wanna see Shane Black write a Nancy Drew movie.)

When it comes to action, this is a Tony Scott movie, and if you know the first thing about Tony Scott, you know what you're getting: flashy action, glamorous vistas, and a lot of visual flair. This movie looks damn good in that peculiar '80s/early '90s studio way, a movie that knows exactly how big and dumb it is and leans right into it. The opening scene of an ill-fated running back at the end of his rope giving a whole new meaning to "pistol offense" sets the tone and lets you know what you're in for straight away, a film big on splashy visuals and moments designed to set a mood. The plot is fairly boilerplate and easy to figure out, existing largely to drive the action and the characters' banter and get you to the real reason this movie exists, which is the car chases, shootouts, and explosions that are all handled with aplomb. From start to finish, this movie is incredibly entertaining, the kind of flick that invites you to turn off your brain and have a great time watching a pair of very charismatic actors run around Los Angeles with guns.

The Bottom Line

The Last Boy Scout is a kick-ass, no-nonsense buddy action/comedy anchored by a pair of great lead performances, a witty script, and director Tony Scott doing what he does best. This was perfect viewing just before the Super Bowl, and honestly at any other time of year.