Don't listen to the negative reviews

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

"Downtown" is a box office crash & burn from 1990. Basically it is yet another unsuccessful attempt to follow-up on the success of "Beverly Hills Cop" (without the benefit of Eddie Murphy). These inter-racial, buddy picture, cop movie, comedy-action features simply don't work without a talented comic and Anthony Edwards of "Revenge of the Nerds" fame is only mildly funny. Add to this a more serious group of themes than Murphy had to deal with and the incongruity of mixing these conflicting genres makes the whole a lot less than the sum of its parts. Yet "Downtown" is more entertaining than its "bomb at the box office" reputation would lead you to believe. The production design, filming, and editing are first class. Although the action scenes are unconvincing, this is due more to lamely inserted comedy elements than cheap staging. Much is genuinely embarrassing such as when a PCP abuser holds a little girl hostage, with a gun to her head, and the subtext lamely plays the scene for laughs. What genius thought that scene would work? And they wonder why these things lose money? In this exercise in schizoid film-making, Anthony Edwards and Forest Whitaker are the standard odd couple partnering up to solve the murder of Edwards' former partner. Nerd boy Alex (Edwards) in his worst scenes listens to Beach Boys music and in his best scenes is paired with his girlfriend (Penelope Ann Miller). Alex is a suburban patrolman who has been banished to the worst downtown Philly division because of a confrontation with a slimy bigwig (unconvincingly overplayed by David Clennon). Dennis (Whitaker) is a detective with a lot of baggage that makes it difficult for him to warm up to Alex.But Alex and Dennis eventually bond (big surprise) and Whitaker turns in a pretty good performance (much too good for this material). Whitaker and Miller assist the marginally talented but generally likable Edwards enough that it is possible for the average viewer to suspend disbelief most of the time and actually get into the story. Just be prepared for a lot of extremely lame moments that would have been more entertaining had the editor relegated them to his deleted scenes bin. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

It is hard to believe there is only 6 comments on this movie. This is a great buddy cop movie, easily one of the better ones you will see. Both Forest Whitaker and Anthony Edwards are fine actors in anything they have been in and this movie is no exception. The action starts right away and is very steady throughout the movie. There is a lot of good comedy in this movie as well, slightly cheesy but no worse then most other movies. Forest Whitaker finally received significant recognition for his acting ability for The Last King Of Scotland, it is about time! His fine performances in movies like Phonebooth, Phenomenon, Platoon, Good Morning Vietnam and countless other roles he has played over the years have been overlooked for far too long! The chemistry between Whitaker and Edwards is very good there are a few very funny moments between them. If you like cop movies take a look you should not regret it and if you do it is like I always say you never have to watch it again.

OK, so it's not Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, but this cop movie deserves a look.It's not really a cop movie. Yes, the scumbags are dealing dope and killing cops, but this is about a black cop that lost his partner (Forest Whitaker) and a fish out of water - a white cop in the worst precinct in the inner city (Anthony Edwards). One is afraid of losing another partner, and the other just wants to learn how to do real police work.It's funny, it's tender, it's sickly sweet at times, but it is really a good story about relationships; not only between cop partners, but between the wives and their husbands.Give it a chance.

Here is another of my personal favourites 80's comedies. A solid production with a marvellous Anthony Edwards and a bad-ass Forest Whitaker. Lots of the scenes have an unique Choreography.A good surprise for 80's fans!!