Texas Ranger Roland Sharp always gets his man but on this occasion the pursuit of his subject sees his partner shot, his man murdered and the killer on the run. His only witnesses are a set of high-school cheerleaders whom claim to be able to identify the killer despite none of them being able to agree on the description. With the girls identified as possible witness, the killer has to kill them to tie up all the loose ends a fact that Sharp is all too aware of. With two of his men in tow, Sharp sets up a safe house with the young women and moves in to provide protection.
As much as many of us would like to pretend that we come home and watch art films and documentaries like Woody Allen in Annie Hall, the truth is a lot of the time after a long day at work nothing eases away the pain than an undemanding film. This is why films like this make money and it is why I ended up watching it just too plain tired for those subtitled Argentinean movies or existential German films about the nature of the soul. This doesn't mean that I am easily pleased because I can't forgive much of this for how basic it is, because it is. The plot is essentially an odd-couple scenario expanded to a group and stuck into a thriller narrative to provide a start, driver & ending and it doesn't offer more than you expect it will produce.
The writing is pretty obvious but it is not without charm and I mostly found it to be quite amusing. Whether or not this is sufficient is dependant on your mood I suppose, certainly there are few significant laughs to be had and little of interest in the story (characters or thriller aspects). What the film does benefit from is a great bit of casting. The "grumpy stern man" role is simple but when you put someone like Tommy Lee Jones in the lead role then it does lift it a little bit. I say a little bit because he can only do so much but the film does really benefit from his strong presence and surly delivery. In support the girls (not that they are anywhere near the age they play) are all lively and fun. I will be honest and say that I felt a little uncomfortable being invited to ogle girls who are supposedly underage but some of them make it easy. The actresses do quite well considering they are just clichés with tight bodies Milian is sassy and fun as the sassy black girl for example, while we also get a fiery Hispanic, a bad girl, a weepy girl and so on. Garcés is OK but is much better (and looks a lot more like an adult) in The Shield. Ferlito, Garner and Keena are OK but Ermey and Archer are wasted in small roles. Cedric the Entertainer (more and more sounded like an ironic name) is not so much wasted as he is a waste he is unfunny and seems to have been forced into the film because someone thought a fat black man would be funny in a dance-off. Overall then this is a basic film that has plenty of poor aspects about it and doesn't aspire to much but, thanks to casting as much as anything, does have a reasonable amount of charm. Will suffice for the tired man in the mood for a comedy that will not make you think or laugh too hard but don't expect it to be memorable or "good" in the traditional sense.
