On the other hand, if you have an hour to fritter away and are not in a particularly picky/discriminating mood, give this one a shot. You might be surprised to find yourself grinning more often than you expected to :-)

My only kudos to Dennis Hopper is his choice of Tom Berenger. This is one heck of a good thespian, and he shines, even when cast in an otherwise silly, non-entity of a movie. Sure, Erika gets her share of attention, but mostly when she's baring it. And McNamara, well, I can't remember any other movie he was in, so I'll just say he has latent talent. A little too cute for this role, maybe.

You've probably read other reviews, so I won't bore you with a detailed storyline. Tom and McNamara are Navy guys sent to escort a prisoner from a Marine detention center. Turns out that the prisoner is a woman (Erika) and a slippery one at that. Several travails follow. Erika and McNamara fall for each other. Tom eventually helps the couple make off to Mexico or somewhere. Like I said, suspend your belief, all ye who enter here :-)

Tom plays his part to perfection, as the gruff, hardboiled, no-nonsense, sardonic military guy. I can't see anyone else better suited to this role. Watch out for a couple of hilarious scenes, when they land up at the marine detention center, and when they take a detour on their way back to base. Pretty funny 'camaraderie' too, with McNamara and a couple of sailor pinheads who want nothing more than to yank his chain.

Summary - with a couple of beers to help, what the heck, I think I actually enjoyed it!

Too cute William McNamara plays Navy dude Eddie Devane who is celebrating his impending discharge. He has prepaid for a Porsche with money he has been stealing from the Navy by selling things on the black market with the help of his neurotic friend Howard (Crispin Glover). In one of those unbelievable plot developments, Eddie is sent to help hard as a rock Rock Reilly (Tom Berenger) retrieve a dangerous prisoner named Tony Johnson and bring him back to base to be flown out to his permanent incarceration in California. The duo must drive through the Carolinas to do this, resulting in madcap Southern stereotypes.

Well, the bickering couple get to the Marine prison, and lo and behold, he is a she! Boing! And she is hot TonI (Erika Eleniak), not TonY! Wah-wah-wah! I hope the trip back goes as smoothly as every other trip Rock has gone on!

Toni soon makes her true self known, escaping from a preplanned truck stop with the help of a friend. She is recaptured. She sabotages Rock's van by stuffing tampons in the gas tank, and the trio is stranded in the middle of nowhere. The three fall into an abandoned mine shaft, and Toni gets out. She plans to escape, but gets a conscience and returns to help the boys out. As Eddie's life falls apart (Howard steals his Porsche), he gets drunk and sleeps with Toni, who naturally escapes again. She is recaptured again, but she has melted the hearts of these two guys with her sob story. She committed assault because she could not get an emergency leave to see her dying brother. Eddie and Rock deliver Toni to the proper authorities, but both have had life altering experiences (and an extended fist fight), and they come up with a goofy plan to spring Toni so she and Eddie can live happily ever after.

Dennis Hopper could not stage a comedic scene to save his life. He has no idea how to direct physical comedy. The tampons in the gas tank scene is awkward and obvious. The truck stop escape scene has Toni in a bad wig associating with Eddie and Rock, who have no earthly idea who she is! She looks the exact same, she is not Lon Chaney! While Hopper is having technical problems, the real fault here lies with the screenwriters (one of whom is from my hometown of Minot). All the characters here are stupid. All of them. The Navy and Marines have some weird intermilitary rivalry (my dad was in the Air Force but we never got into fisticuffs with Army brats), the Carolinians are of the "Deliverance" variety, the women are all sexual objects, and the men are bitter drunks and wackos.

McNamara is baby faced in a part obviously inspired by all of Tom Cruise's roles. Tom Berenger sounds like Nick Nolte in "48HRS," and his change in character at the end is forced and unbelievable. Eleniak plays Toni as sympathetic, but I kept asking myself why she was set on escaping all the time. Sure, no one wants to serve time in prison, but I thought that reason was secondary to some big climactic confession that never comes about. Hopper populates this nightmare with tons of character actors in bit and cameo parts. Watch for Marilu Henner and actual Oscar nominees (listed at the end of this review) try to add a wackiness to the film that just is not there. Hopper's own cameo, with a fake nose that makes him look like Karl Malden, is as funny as a prostate exam.

"Chasers" can recall "The Last Detail," mirroring the basic plot but nothing more. This film lurches from scene to scene, never giving the audience anyone to like. Even Eleniak's topless scene is anticlimactic (so to speak), offering us the same thing we (or, at least, I) have seen in the pages of Playboy. A bad comedy contains no laughs, and I literally did not laugh once. Do not pursue "Chasers."

"Chasers" contains six (!) Academy Award nominees- Tom Berenger, Gary Busey, Seymour Cassel, Frederic Forrest, Dennis Hopper, and Dean Stockwell.

(R)- Physical violence, mild gun violence, strong profanity, female nudity, male nudity, sexual content, some sexual references, mild drug references, and some adult situations

However, seeing it again, recently, I came to realize this was actually a send-up of the 'good ol' boy' comedies of the seventies, the kind of 'B' movies Roger Corman produced, when he introduced directors like Ron Howard. As such, it's very enjoyable, and certainly worth another look!

The premise is that of an old-fashioned service comedy, with wheeler-dealer William McNamara and put-upon pal Crispen Glover pulling off one last big score before McNamara's discharge. Unfortunately, the scam goes awry as the young con artist is 'recruited' to assist grizzled vet 'Rock Reilly' (Tom Berenger, spitting out dialogue with a whiskey-soaked growl) in a prisoner transfer. The prisoner turns out to be the luscious Erika Eleniak, and as she quickly makes the first of several escape attempts, you get to see: a) exciting new uses for feminine hygiene products; b) the redneck charm of the countryside between Charleston and North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; c) some great cameos by Dean Stockwell, Seymour Cassel, Gary Busey, Marilu Henner, Fredric Forrest, and director Dennis Hopper, himself (sporting a bulbous nose and a blow-up sex toy!); d) the famous Eleniak nude love scene, followed by McNamara chasing her, naked, after she runs, again (he shows more skin than she does); and e) the obligatory happy ending, as Berenger proves he has a 'heart of gold', and that 'love (or a healthy lust, anyway!) conquers all'.

Is this a classic? Are you kidding? Then again, neither were the Corman films...but as a tribute to the genre, 'Chasers' is fun, and a terrific 'kick off the shoes, pop some popcorn' flick!