ARMED AND DANGEROUS (1986) ** Once you see that John Candy and Eugene Levy are the objects of the descriptive title, you have an almost perfect sense of what you're going to get. Rarely has any film been so innately insulated from false advertising claims. Such a superficial overview misses, however, the good performances and perfectly cast faces of Robert Loggia and Kenneth McMillan. Not enough to overshadow Candy's ebullient if imperfect approach to effectiveness, nor Levy's sceptically surreptitious guidance of a fallible early warning system, the older guys nonetheless offer support and contrast overshadowing even the gratuitous exploding watermelon scene. The highlight of the film is probably Candy dressing-yes that's right, Candy dressing- and preparing for the denouement, which includes several stunts that are so scary that they seem misplaced in this happytime film. Everyone must have made it, though, never heard (and don't see) anything different. Steve Railsback runs a quick clinic how to impact a film into submission, no small feat when Candy's in most of the same shots and they're cutting back and forth to the other principals.
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