The Hard Way (1991 film)

A serial killer-vigilante known as the "Party Crasher" telephones the police, notifying them that he is about to kill another person at a night club, daring them to stop him. Police converge on the night club, but the officers, including cynical NYPD Lieutenant John Moss, are unable to stop the murder of a local drug dealer. The Party Crasher brazenly flees in ensuing chaos, and Moss, who quickly climbs the truck's door, is thrown off a car while trying to stop him. While Moss has his injuries tended to, he makes obscene comments to the media.

In Hollywood, Nick Lang is a pampered and capricious movie star who is best known as "Smoking" Joe Gunn, the Indiana Jones-like title character in a series of highly popular action films. In order to be taken more seriously as an actor, he is vying for the leading role in the heavy cop drama Blood on the Asphalt, which he believes will be a more realistic role. Nick vows to "prepare" for the role by attempting to act as an actual police officer with the rest of the NYPD. After seeing Moss's outburst on television and being impressed, Nick pulls strings with New York City Mayor David Dinkins to be assigned as Moss's new partner. Moss, uninterested in show business, wants no part of the deal, but is forced to comply by his captain, who is a Nick Lang fan. To make matters worse, looking after Nick means that Moss will have to be removed from the Party Crasher case under penalty of being fired if he disobeys.

Moss defies orders by continuing the investigation and repeatedly trying to ditch Nick, whose constant questions and attempts to mimic Moss's movements infuriate Moss. Nick wants to know what it feels like to be a cop, while Moss constantly reminds him that this is not a movie. Meanwhile, Moss is also trying to juggle a new romance with Susan, a single mother. The divorced Moss is unable to communicate with her or open up, and Nick offers advice to him on how to interact with people. Moss is embarrassed even further when Nick, as Ray Casanov, appears at a pizza parlor and is a hit with Bonnie, Susan's daughter, who dislikes Moss.

Moss tries to have a Nick-free day to keep on investigating by shackling Nick to his bed while placing a paper sign ordering him to stay. When Nick is invited by Susan through a phone call to eat out Nick goes after somehow unshackling himself from the bed while still carrying the handcuffs in his hand. After riding the subway Nick mistakenly believes Susan is becoming infatuated with him. He later risks his life by posing as a cop to a group of delinquent juveniles. Moss, who goes to the subway station and manages to arrest the perps, has decided that he no longer cares about the consequences and gets increasingly frustrated with Nick’s presence in his life.

Having chosen to finally teach Nick about cop duties, Moss takes Nick to a dark building to catch a perp, ordering him to stay put and giving him a real gun in case of an emergency. Nick, however, enters the building and shoots a man who he believes is a criminal chasing Moss. The man appears to be a bystander, leaving Nick terrified. Moss agrees to cover up the act, and urges Nick to leave town immediately. Feeling guilty, Nick returns from the airport to the police station to confess, only to see that the "dead man" is actually a cop who is making fun of Nick with the rest of the police. Nick confronts Moss, who admits he choreographed the stunt to get Nick out of town, stating that Nick's panic, self-doubt, guilt, and anger are all part of being a "real" cop. Nick, enraged with Moss for the ruse and Moss’s overall attitude, punches Moss and furiously leaves.

Nick however stumbles into a confrontation between Moss and The Party Crasher, during which he saves Moss's life. The Party Crasher is wounded by Moss and is taken to an ambulance, but he kills several people and escapes. Nick briefly captures The Party Crasher and radioes their location before The Party Crasher knocks out Nick. After Moss is visited by Susan she states that his unstable life as a cop will never allow them to have a secure relationship and therefore has decided to break up with him. Moss is then visited by Nick, who predicts that The Party Crasher will follow typical revenge protocol and will seek out Moss's loved ones in the third act of their story together. Nick is right, and Susan is abducted by The Party Crasher. Moss and Nick confront The Party Crasher on a billboard, after correctly guessing The Party Crasher’s cryptic clues. They go to the billboard advertising Nick's latest movie Smoking Gunn II, and a brawl ensues between Nick, Moss, and The Party Crasher. Nick save Susan and Moss from being shot, but in turn he is shot in the chest. Moss eventually garners enough strength and throws the Party Crasher off the roof to his death. Moss tries to comfort Nick as he is taken to the hospital.

Several months later, Nick has recovered and filmed The Good, The Badge and The Ugly. Moss, now married with Susan, attends the movie's premiere with the rest of the department as honored guests. He is annoyed to discover that Nick's best lines in the film originally came from him, while he himself receives no credit.

As of October 2020, on Rotten Tomatoes, the film had a 77% approval rating from 22 critics, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The consensus said, "The Hard Way's overly familiar formula is enlivened by a witty script and the excellent comedic chemistry between Michael J. Fox and James Woods."[1]

Vincent Canby of The New York Times said that it is "not a perfect comedy by any means, but it is a very entertaining one" and commended its "pure Hollywood" sensibility, writing that it is "sometimes slapdash in execution and sloppy in coherence, but it's written, directed and performed with a redeeming, self-mocking zest."[2]

Time Out called it a "light, bright comedy" that "counterbalances Hollywood convention with some very funny swipes at the film industry" and stated, "Badham handles the numerous action sequences with confidence, but the real enjoyment comes from the interplay between the two leads, who revel in the opportunity to send up their images."[3]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it three-and-a-half out of four stars and praised its "comic energy", calling the film "funny, fun, exciting, and [...] an example of professionals who know their crafts and enjoy doing them well."[4] Ebert said the stunts, special effects, and second unit work were "all seamless and exciting", and viewed that the actors elevate the film's plot with their performances:

[T]he film makers crank up the energy until the movie takes on a life of its own. [...] There is a certain exhilarating, high-altitude buzz you get from actors who are working well at the limits of their ability. Faced with a plot that was potentially predictable, Woods and Fox seem to have agreed to crank up the voltage, to take the chance of playing every scene flat-out.[4]

Ty Burr of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C rating and criticized it as having "coyly self-conscious high concept", writing that "takes the [action-buddy-cop genre] to such a numbing dead end."[5] Burr panned its chase scenes and editing as "visual nonsense" and called its plot "all guns and gag lines", although he found Fox "secure enough to goof on his own image and inventive enough to do it well".[5]

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• The Hard Way at IMDb
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