Chasers ** (1994, Tom Berenger, Erika Eleniak, William McNamara) – Classic Movie Review 1737

Director Dennis Hopper’s 1994 comedy drama stars Tom Berenger and William McNamara as bickering US Navy lawmen, who escort a beautiful troublesome female prisoner (Erika Eleniak) to prison in Charleson. She plays to do anything to try to escape in a slight twist on the similar plot of The Last Detail.

It’s easy to see why this comic tale of misadventures went straight to video in the UK. Well it isn’t very funny, charming or exciting for a start.

There’s nothing wrong with the acting from the likable cast, though. The three appealing stars and the large contingent of fine character actors do work very hard to overcome the rather slow-moving, derivative material. Some swearing, nudity and sex make it more graphic and explicit, but don’t really help to make it much more lively or realistic.

Director Hopper appears in a brief cameo as Doggie. The cast includes Crispin Glover, Matthew Glave, Dean Stockwell, Gary Busey, Seymour Cassell, Frederic Forrest and Marilu Henner.

It’s written by Gone Girl’s writer-director Dan Gilroy, along with Joe Batteer and John Rice, based on their original story.

It proved Hopper’s seventh and last film as director. He died of cancer on May 29 2010, aged 74.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1737

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com/