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Jan 27, 2020 Web Exclusive By Mark Redfern

Kuffs is a truly forgotten action comedy from 1992, but it’s far from forgettable. It features a magnetic star turn from Christian Slater in his prime, only a few years removed from Heathers and Pump Up the Volume. He plays George Kuffs, a bit of a screw-up and slacker. When his older brother Brad (Bruce Boxleitner) is murdered, George inherits his business, a San Francisco Patrol Special Police company. In a concept that seems Hollywood borne, some areas of San Francisco are indeed watched over by private police forces paid for by those in the community, dating all the way back to the California Gold Rush era of 1847. Kuffs attempts to track down his brother’s killer, while also attending the police academy and trying to win back his college attending ex-girlfriend Maya Carlton (an early role for Milla Jovovich) and saddled with a seemingly straight-laced partner, Ted Bukovsky (Tony Goldwyn, fresh from Ghost).

Directed and co-written by Bruce A. Evans, Kuffs is quirky and sometimes struggles to balance the action and comedy, with one scene featuring unnecessary cartoony sound effects. Jovovich was only 15 at the time of filming, although she looks and plays much older, which makes her dancing in her underwear scene at the start of the film slightly uncomfortable to watch now. But she does have good chemistry with Slater, despite him being in his early 20s at the time. Slater has charm to spare and there are lots of scenes of him speaking directly to the camera à la Ferris Bueller. Harold Faltermeyer’s score successfully maintains the spirit of the music he did for Beverly Hills Cop, a likely influence on Kuffs.

Shout! Factory’s new Blu-ray release from their Shout Select series includes new audio commentary from director/co-writer Bruce A. Evans and co-writer Raynold Gideon, a new on camera interview with Evans and Gideon, and a new interview with Faltermeyer on the score. One bit of trivia is that various other actresses auditioned for Jovovich, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd (who the production liked so much they wrote a different small role for her, which was Judd’s movie debut).

(www.shoutfactory.com)

Author rating: 6/10