Midnight Run (1988)

A delightful fusion of a 1980s buddy picture and a wacky Odd Couple-style comedy, Midnight Run's mixture of action and comedy probably most resembles Arthur Hiller's 1979 road comedy The In-Laws. The success of both films depends on the interplay and chemistry between the two bickering leads, in this instance, Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin. Grodin had long been a comic actor of some acclaim (Heaven Can Wait), but this was De Niro's first mainstream comedy, and he acquitted himself admirably as the irascible bounty hunter sent to pick up Grodin's white-collar embezzler. Working from a clever script by George Gallo, director Martin Brest captures the precise levels of comedy and action that made his prior film, Beverly Hills Cop, such a hit. In Midnight Run, however, Brest allows complex characters to emerge from the set-up, and the film is all the better for the results. De Niro would continue to explore his comic side, to generally positive results, in films such as We're No Angels, Mad Dog and Glory, Wag the Dog, and Analyze This. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide