MOVIE REVIEW : Handcuffed by a Lack of Credibility

“Kuffs” (citywide) showcases Christian Slater’s antic sense of humor and demonstrates his ease in carrying a genre film, but it is otherwise a routine and violent action-comedy. Bruce A. Evans, making his directorial debut, strives mightily for a breezy anarchic spirit, but he and his longtime writing partner, Raynold Gideon, served “Starman” and “Stand by Me” infinitely better than they did this picture.

We’re told that since 1851 the San Francisco Police Department, then desperate for recruits in the Gold Rush era, has engaged in the practice of selling off districts to private enterprise to establish what are called Patrol Specials, which to this day continue to augment the city police force. Slater’s George Kuffs is an unemployed 21-year-old high school dropout who has just written a note to his pregnant girlfriend (Milla Jovovich), telling her that she’d be better off without him.

By chance, he witnesses the shooting death of his older brother (Bruce Boxleitner), proprietor of a Patrol Special, which George promptly inherits. In short order, he’s out to avenge his brother, although his grief is breathtakingly fleeting, and take over his business, aided in part by a San Francisco cop (Tony Goldwyn, good comic foil for Slater) who’s been caught sleeping with the chief’s wife.

The idea is that this bright and nervy kid is out to achieve what are two missions impossible, given his total lack of qualifications. There’s not an ounce of credibility in either endeavor, even though it is obvious that he’s going to succeed at both. Like far too many other pictures, “Kuffs” (rated a mild PG-13) is at war with itself: The comedy collides with the mounting body count.

It’s hard to enjoy those moments of humor amid so much casual destruction and mayhem. Although Evans clearly tried to put a fresh spin on a formula exploitation plot, he ended up turning out just another movie fantasy that tends to desensitize audiences to violence.

‘Kuffs’

Christian Slater: George Kuffs

Milla Jovovich: Maya Carlton

Tony Goldwyn: Ted Bukovsky

Bruce Boxleitner: Brad Kuffs

A Universal presentation of a Dino De Laurentiis Communications production. Director Bruce A. Evans. Producer Raynold Gideon. Screenplay by Evans & Gideon. Cinematographer Thomas Del Ruth. Editor Stephen Semel. Costumes Mary E. Vogt. Music Harold Faltermeyer. Production design Victoria Paul, Armin Ganz. Art director Tom Davick. Set decorators Claire Brown, Diana Williams. Sound David Brownlow. Running time: 1 hour, 41 minutes.

MPAA-rated PG-13 (for violence, language).