Beverly Hills Cop is more cop show than comedy riot. Expectations that Eddie Murphy’s street brand of rebelliousness would devastate staid and glittery Beverly Hills are not entirely met in a film that grows increasingly dramatic as Murphy’s recalcitrant cop from Detroit runs down the killers of his best friend.
Film was originally tagged for Sylvester Stallone and the finished product still carries the melodramatic residue of a hard, violent property, pre-Murphy.
Strong assists come from a deceptively likable performance from Judge Reinhold as a naive Beverly Hills detective, from by-the-book chief Ronny Cox, and from the serpentine villainy of Steven Berkoff, who plays an art dealer involved in nefarious endeavors.
Best moments arrive early when Murphy, bouncy, determined and vengeful, arrives in Beverly Hills in what old Detroit friend turned Beverly Hills art dealer Lisa Eilbacher correctly calls his ‘crappy blue Chevy Nova’.
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1984: Nomination: Best Original Screenplay
