MOVIE REVIEW: TURNER & HOOCH (1989)

Before Tom Hanks became one of Hollywood’s most reliable and bankable dramatic actors, he was one of Hollywood’s most reliable and bankable comedic actors. His brand of comedy was never the physical sort, but that of the exasperated everyman caught up in kooky high jinks. That makes him a perfect fit in this twist on the buddy-cop genre.

Hanks plays Scott Turner, a by-the-book neat freak police investigator who is closing out his case load before transferring to a larger police department. Responding to one last call, Turner gets drawn into a mystery involving large sums of cash, the murder of one of his friends on the beat, and his dead friend’s dog. Hooch is a French Mastiff with a penchant for drooling, making a mess, and doing whatever he likes. As Turner takes the dog in while solving the case, the clash of personalities and the way the dog propels Turner to new discoveries in the case turns both of their worlds upside down.

In lesser hands, this film would have been a desperate attempt to add a cute twist on the buddy-cop genre. Case in point- all the Air Bud movies that millennials my age and younger had thrown at us. Thankfully, Tom Hanks has such a grounding presence that he becomes the rising tide that raises the rest of the boats in this film. Does the script ask his character to do some foolish things that a real police officer would refrain from? Yes, of course. But because he his Tom Hanks, we look past it, at least for the most part.

With a genre this stale (made even staler by having seen a few 90s and early 00s buddy cop films as well), there is only so much that can be done with the plot. Hooch’s status as the sidekick makes the film seem more kid-friendly at the outset, but therein lies the danger. The crime content isn’t whitewashed and there is a surprise near the end that may be upsetting to children.

In the end, the success of this film comes back to Tom Hanks. He finds away to portray chemistry with his canine costar, and he is effortless in pivoting between straight man on the case and exasperated dog sitter. Much of the film is paint-by-numbers buddy cop flick, but Hanks makes it good enough to give it a chance. Nostalgia suggests this movie may be better than it is, but we can agree to disagree on that point.

FINAL RATING: 3 out of 5