Movies: Bulletproof

When you're reloading, especially with my portable setup, I think it's a good idea to put on a movie to relieve the tedium of doing some of the non-critical tasks (depriming brass or cleaning primer pockets, for instance). Such a movie has to be boring enough to not merit your full attention, but interesting enough to drift into and out of when the situation warrants.

"Bulletproof," a 1996 action movie starring Damon Wayans and Adam Sandler, is about as aggressively bland and forgettable as any movie has a right to be, so it's a perfect candidate for this type of thing. You know it's mediocre when the trailer gets the name of one of the main characters wrong:



As you can see, it's a fairly by-the-numbers witness protection/buddy cop type of film, with Wayans playing the straight man for once. He's guarding Adam Sandler's character, a smalltime hood who has turned state's evidence and is being targeted for assassination. You've seen this plot before, and, in truth, it's not all bad. The action scenes are pretty laughable, but James Caan gives a decent performance as a drug kingpin (James Caan naturally settles into the role of a heavy - it's Sonny Corleone all over again). Again, though, this is more reloading fodder than watchable action-comedy, so make sure you have something to do.

Rating: 4/10

Interesting sidenote - if you take a look at their filmographies, you'll see 1996 was when Sandler really took off ("Happy Gilmore") and that it's also the year Damon Wayans fell into relative obscurity as a marquee film actor after his starring roles in movies like "Blankman" and "Major Payne."