DVD Review | Another Stakeout
Written by: Kage Alan

Film Rating: B
DVD Special Features: N/A

Hollywood just can't pass up an opportunity to milk a potential cash cow, so
in order to attract the same kind of attention that "Stakeout" did, they
reunited most of the cast from the original and upped the ante by bringing in
comedienne Rosie O'Donnell along with some other big names.  Let's face it,
the film industry would raise Titanic and sink it again if they thought it
would mean big bucks, but luckily "Another Stakeout" doesn't have to go quite
that far to be an entertaining sequel.

Seattle detectives Chris Lecce (Richard Dreyfuss, "Jaws") and Bill Reimers
(Emilio Estevez, "Men At Work") are back on the job and back on another
crummy stakeout after a huge blunder on their part during an arrest.  Who are
they watching out for now?  It seems that Lu Delano (Cathy Moriarty, "Soap
Dish") is the star witness for a case against a mob boss.  Despite being in
protective custody with the FBI (these guys just can't get a break from being
portrayed as the inept guys in films), hitman Tony Castellano (Miguel Ferrer,
"Deepstar Six") manages to find her and blow up just about everybody but his
target.  Lu goes into hiding and it's everybody's hope she's found before
another attempt can be made on her life and before the trial.

Inexperienced Assistant D.A. Gina Garrett (O'Donnell, "Exit To Eden") borrows Chris and Bill and heads out to an island to set up a stakeout in the house next door to friends of Lu (Dennis Farina and Marcia Strassman) just in case she happens to make contact with them.  This time around, they'll be posing as a family with Gina and Chris as husband and wife and Bill as Chris' son from a previous marriage.  Yeah, they think it's just as farfetched as we do,
but that's where a nice chunk of the humor of this film comes from.  The
usual foul-ups occur and misconceptions arise, but while they may not be as
fresh as they were in the first film, watching Dreyfuss and Estevez interact
again is well worth the price of admission.

While seemingly plot heavy (or not), "Another Stakeout" is really just an
opportunity to have some more fun and Director John Badham manages to be
fairly successful with it.  The biggest downfall with this sequel is the lack
of solid characterization.  Many of the actors are set pieces put on screen
to allow the leads to react to them instead of retaining the believability
and intelligence the original film's script allowed for.  Aside from that, I
enjoyed myself and laughed out loud on a number of occasions.

Touchstone has given us a sweet looking Widescreen transfer of "Another
Stakeout", but again it's not Anamorphic.  The Dolby Digital Surround Sound
is fairly top notch, so no complaints there.  As for extras, we are once
again served up a couple of trailers (none of which are for the first film or
this one) and that's it.  Nada.  Zip.  Zilch.  Nothing else.  I wasn't crying
too hard because it's possible to pick this DVD up for $14.99 at Best Buy,
which is right around the price I feel is acceptable.  Like I'm the "end all
be all" authority of what a disc should be priced at.  Is it any wonder I
haven't gotten an offer from any studio to write for them yet?

This disc was a gift, so it's only fair to thank Marianne for being so
gracious and thoughtful in giving the one thing my heart…sorry, SECOND thing my heart desires the most.  I would have picked the disc up anyway because the price was right and, more importantly, I really enjoyed seeing the cast reunited.  Even Madeleine Stowe made time in her schedule to come back for a brief couple of scenes.  All is well that ends well.  Happy watching!