Midnight Run Review

Robert DeNiro makes a great tough guy, believable and absolutely threatening. And Charles Grodin is the consummate whiner, the guy for whom nothing is good enough unless it is perfect. These two play ideal foils for each other in the 1988 chase comedy Midnight Run, which I had the pleasure to watch in HD earlier today.

In Midnight Run, Jon Mardukas (Charles Grodin) is a mob accountant who embezzled $15 million. Both the mob and feds want him, but he's hiding from both. Jack Walsh (Robert DeNiro) is a bounty hunter who has to find Mardukas and return him to Los Angeles before his bail runs out and his bail bondsman loses his investment. Walsh finds Mardukas quickly enough, but getting "The Duke" to LA is another story.

As they cross the country switching from planes to trains to buses to cars, Mardukas soon gets under Walsh's skin. It turns out that Walsh is a tough guy with an honest streak, and Mardukas' questions and jibes find the soft spots in Walsh's conscience. Will they make it to LA? Will the mob get Mardukas first? Will Walsh see the daughter he left behind nine years before? Who is playing whom?

I don't want to give away any more of Midnight Run, but the movie has lots of action, snappy dialog and genuine feelings, even though it plays most of these things for laughs. There is some gunplay but it's mostly bloodless. Although DeNiro and Grodin are perfect in their roles, the real star is a script that makes Walsh a bad guy with a good streak and Mardukas is a good guy with a bad side. Are the two really all that different inside? That's part of the fun of Midnight Run.

There is a tremendous amount of cigarette smoking in Midnight Run, including now-quaint scenes of people puffing away on buses, on airplanes and in terminals. It's amazing how out of date that looks and it was just 21 years ago. There's no nudity or sexual scenes in Midnight Run but the language in the film is exceptionally rough. The heavy language didn't bother me but it is definitely for kids 16 and older.

Midnight Run is a fun action-comedy for adults, and there's even a tender family scene to soften the action. The acting is excellent and you'll find yourself laughing out loud at Charles Grodin and Robert DeNiro -- the odd couple of the highway.

I recommend Midnight Run.