REVIEW:
Midnight Run is one of those movies that a lot of people are nostalgic for, and talk about today, some three decades or so since it came out, in the late eighties. It’s easy to see why, as it is a comedy about dangerous people, including gangsters, that never goes for slapstick or for anything over the top. The two leads, played by Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin, are both pretty serious and unhappy, as opposed to the usual formula for buddy films, where one character is angry and the other is a goofball or crazy or both. Nothing like that here. These two are good together, there’s no doubt about it.
Now, that being said, the story is pretty basic. De Niro plays Jack, a sort of bounty hunter who goes after criminals that need to be brought in to the bail bondsman. He catches his target, The Duke, played by Charles Grodin, pretty early on, and then the rest of the movie is just him trying to get this character to the place he needs to deliver him. In terms of mission, this one couldn’t be much simpler. And maybe that’s a good thing.
The problem is, this movie could basically be called Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, and more Trains and more Automobiles. In other words, it is a revolving door of vehicles, one after the next. The characters start on a plane, then switch to a train, then a car, then another train, then another car. It does get a little tiresome. Luckily there are some other moments and scenes thrown in, such as one where Jack hangs from a log above a waterfall and has to be saved by The Duke.
The thing that works about this movie, aside from the banter between the two leads, is the amount of parties that are going after them. There’s the FBI, the gangsters, the hitmen working for the gangsters, and the other bounty hunter, Marvin, also hired by the bail bondsman. And there are some running jokes involving these characters that hold up better than expected. For example, the head detective doesn’t say much, but there are two funny running gags involving him. The first is that Jack has stolen his FBI ID, and is using it in places, making people think that Jack is this detective and thus confusing people when they actually meet this detective for real. The other is that this detective keeps taking one of Marvin’s cigarettes, every time the two of them cross paths. Little moments like these are pretty funny. The overall film is just okay. It’s enjoyable, for sure, but it certainly isn’t anything all that brilliant.