I can’t even remember when I first saw Stakeout now. I do know I rented it, maybe a few years after it was released. I enjoyed the movie and have seen it several times. Six years later in 1993, Another Stakeout was released. I eventually rented it since I had enjoyed the first movie.

Luella and Michael were in protective custody in the Las Vegas area, waiting to testify against Tony Castellano. Somehow Tony found out where the safe house was and made an attempt to take out Luella and Michael. Three federal agents and Michael were killed. Luella vanished.

Detectives Chris Lecce and Bill Reimers had a case go wrong and they were told they would have to work with assistant district attorney Gina Garrett on a stakeout. The Las Vegas DA had traced a call from Luella to her friends Brian and Pam O’Hara, so the couple was being put under surveillance. Chris, Bill, and Gina were going to stay next door to watch them. Their cover was that Chris and Gina were married and Bill was Chris’s son from his first marriage. The men weren’t happy with the plan, mostly because they didn’t like Gina. She was in charge and did things that the men didn’t like, including inviting Brian and Pam over for dinner. Things were more complicated for Chris because he was having relationship trouble with Maria.

After six years, I’m not sure why the decision to make Another Stakeout was made. I can’t remember how successful the first movie was now either, but I don’t think there was a big demand for a sequel. I had liked Bill and Chris in the first movie, so I was interested in seeing this movie. The plot did have potential. It just wasn’t reached, making this one of the sequels that just shouldn’t have been made. The movie would have been better if the plot had been stronger. Having Bill and Chris on a stakeout again was fine. Even the reason for the stakeout out made sense and it was set up well. The idea for the plot just wasn’t executed as well as it could have been.

A big part of what made Stakeout work was the friendship and working relationship between Chris and Bill. In Another Stakeout, that dynamic was changed with the addition of Gina. She wasn’t a cop, but she felt that she should be in charge of the stakeout. It just didn’t seem realistic to me that a prosecutor would be involved in a stakeout the way Gina was instead of leaving that to the police to take care of. I don’t know how everything in a district attorney’s office would work, but I really don’t think someone like Gina would actually go out on the stakeout and be watching people. Having a DA involved in the planning of the stakeout and receiving reports about what was going on would have made more sense in my opinion. I didn’t think that the character of Gina worked. It seemed like she was added just so she could argue with Chris and Bill. Those exchanges may have been included in an attempt to add humor that didn’t work.

The first movie had a little bit of humor added throughout the movie even though it was more serious over all. With Another Stakeout, there was more emphasis on trying to make the movie funny, which made it a sillier movie. I originally rented this movie not to long after it was released on video and I liked it a lot more then. I recently found the movie on television and left it on. I’m still trying to figure out what I liked about it before. Much of what was done for humor just didn’t work for me and fell flat. The characters did a lot of bickering that I didn’t find funny at all. Gina seemed to be added mostly to serve as comic relief. She wasn’t funny. She did a lot of yelling and bossing Chris and Bill around that was just annoying. Very little in the movie made me laugh. Later in the movie, it did take a slightly more serious turn. It even got a bit violent near the end, something that also happened near the end of the first movie. This movie didn’t get as violent as the first one did.

The developing relationship between Chris and Maria played a big part in the first movie. They were still sort of involved in Another Stakeout, six years later. They were living together though Chris was still refusing to even consider getting married, saying that marriage just didn’t work for people in his family. Maria was upset by that, which was understandable. I think that could have been handled in a way that didn’t make Maria seem unbalanced. She was only around in a few scenes to scream at Chris and sometimes throw stuff at him. Chris kept calling Maria to try to work things out which did add some complications to the stakeout. I think the relationship trouble was put in the movie to add more conflict. It just didn’t need to be included. Anyone that liked Chris and Maria’s relationship in the first movie and hoped for more of that will be disappointed. There wasn’t any romance in the movie.

Chris, Bill, and Maria all returned from the first movie. There really wasn’t any new development for any of them, especially Maria. She was a much stronger character in the first movie. Madeleine Stowe wasn’t even credited for playing Maria again. It was too bad that she was reduced to having screaming fits instead of having something she could actually work with. Stowe has been in much better movies. Even though I didn’t care for Imposter, I did think she was good in her part. Bill and Chris were still detectives and continued to have things go wrong on cases at times. They did have a good working relationship. Emilio Estevez and Richard Dreyfuss were good in the parts. Dreyfuss was recently in Poseidon.

Several new characters were added for Another Stakeout. Gina was the one that was featured the most. She was very bossy and controlling and had a tendency to do a lot of yelling. That got very annoying in a hurry. I didn’t think she was likable at all. I didn’t care for Rosie O’Donnell in the part at all. She’s never been one of my favorite actresses and this movie didn’t do anything to change my mind. Tony was the criminal that Luella and Michael were going to testify against. He was barely in the movie, only showing up briefly in a few scenes. There wasn’t enough explanation or development for him to be a good villain. Miguel Ferrer did all right with what he had to work with.

Luella was devastated when Michael was killed. She lost her trust in the people who were supposed to be protecting them after Tony found the safe house and she vanished. Michael’s death caused her to do some drastic things. Cathy Moriarty was fine in the part even though Luella was a mostly flat character. Brian and Pam had been friends with Luella and Michael. They seemed like a nice couple who wanted to help their friend. Dennis Farina and Marsha Strassman didn’t have much to do in the movie.

Main Cast

Richard Dreyfuss - Chris
Emilio Estevez - Bill
Dennis Farina - Brian
Miguel Ferrer - Tony
Cathy Moriarty - Luella
Rosie O’Donnell - Gina
Madeleine Stow - Maria

John Badham - Director

Another Stakeout failed to be as entertaining as Stakeout and is one of the many sequels that never should have been made. People that enjoyed the first movie will probably be disappointed with this one.


Recommended: No