Perhaps Stripes and Caddyshack screenwriter Harold Ramis and Commando director Mark Lester were not an ideal collaborative team. But while this 1986 misfit comedy is something of a misfire, SCTV fans can take heart in watching John Candy and Eugene Levy triumph over weak material as mismatched security guards who stumble upon mob corruption. Candy, in particular, does wonders with a role that in lesser hands would have been a mere "fatty falls down" stereotype. He plays a cynical disgraced cop who takes Levy's cowardly former lawyer under his wing ("Stick with me, I'll keep you out of trouble," he reassures him). Like Ramis's character in Stripes, Levy rises to the occasion under fire, and even gets the girl--Meg Ryan in early ingénue mode, trying out the fetching grins and ingratiating smiles that would make her America's sweetheart three years later in When Harry Met Sally. --Donald Liebenson
2.
Comedy about a police officer who is kicked off L.A.'s force and gets a job as a security guard at a business run by the Mafia.
3.
A comedy about security guards with the safety off.
John Candy and Eugene Levy charge into the world of private security in the outrageous action-comedy Armed and Dangerous. Unfortunately, they're usually charging in the wrong direction. When Candy, a bungling cop, and Levy, an inept lawyer, lose their jobs, they wind up together at the Guard Dog Security Company. After thorough training in the use of firearms (for two hours), they're raring to go. But even as security guards they can't cut it, and rip offs take place right under their noses. Eventually they figure out that the robberies aren't coincidental, and that their company is in cahoots with the security union's mobster president (Robert Laggia, The Jagged Edge). Eager to snag the crooks, Candy and Levy set out as spies, and in a wild car chase turn a million dollar heist into an armed carnival! When the dust finally settles, Candy and Levy savy the day as the hilarious rent-a-cop duo who are never more funny than when they're Armed and Dangerous.
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