The first thing we want to know is why the various previous versions of the title of this film all have such b-o-r-I-n-g titles. Come on, who would want to see a movie called “Riders”?  Z-z-z-z.  “Steal”?  Big whoop. The French title, in contrast, at least gives you a clue—“Extreme Inconduite” or “Extreme Misconduct.”  OK, now that got our attention.  We confess that we don’t understand this film titling business at all.

Speaking of French, this film, directed by French director Gerard Pires, is, well, quite French in its point of view.  Like so many French films, there isn’t a single sympathetic character in the entire film. The least unsympathetic ones are the young amoral robbers who make their getaway using roller blades, bungee cords and other “extreme” sports methods, and it goes downhill from there. Bruce as Jake Magruder (spoiler coming) is a slimeball crooked cop and Natasha Henstridge as Karen, is the “official” good cop but also a Bitch Queen. She sleeps with the Stephen Dorff character, Slim, not knowing he is leader of the robbers but at some point knowing he’s a crime suspect , so she can play a sicko game of oneupsmanship with him when she arrests him. WAY too “French” for us. Ick.

Speaking of Karen, someone please tell us where in the known universe, a female police detective who wants to be taken seriously would wear 5-inch stiletto heels and a tight skirt Up to There. Don’t bend over, Karen, the precinct cops will have a collective heart attack.  Maybe the director was watching old reruns of “Police Woman” with Angie Dickinson.  Try running after the perps in those heels, babe.  Right.

Speaking of that skirt, one of the funniest scenes in this film occurs when Karen, in her Stiletto Heels and Skirt, slithers into a police briefing led by Magruder.  When she sits in the front row and crosses those improbably long, long legs of hers with that impossibly short, short skirt…Magruder can’t control his sexist pig self.   Bruce, always the consummate professional actor, actually manages to say the following lines without bursting out laughing: “Can I help you, sweetie?…The little girls’ room is down the hall…in that tight little dress, you give me one hell of a hardon.”  Fortunately for poor Bruce, they didn't show his face when he delivered this "high class" line.

The director apparently thought this would be either amusing or titillating or both.  We want to know in what alternative universe this would actually occur in a cop shop.  What would really happen is that the magic words “Sexual Harassment Law Suit” would be dancing merrily across Jake’s desk, doing a nice little jig just for him.  Oh well, who said movies are realistic. Not us.

Then there’s Bruce’s old colleague Stephen Berkoff (so wonderfully delightful as the crackpot British fascist leader in Absolute Beginners) as Surtayne, the slimeball (a lot of them in this film) preacher on the take.  Some funny scenes here with Surtayne too, especially the bathtub one. And that pompadour. A whole bird colony could nest in that wig!  What a hoot.  We love Berkoff but we gotta agree with other critics that his phony Southern accent was WAY over the top.  Two of us Angels are from the South and we had to wince and wince again. The only British actor who ever had a convincing Southern accent (in our opinion) was Vivian Leigh in Gone With the Wind.  Why do they keep trying?

But---bottom line--we did have fun with this film.  Bruce, looking spiffy, slim and ever so handsome in a tailored pin-striped suit, plays the slimy Jake with his usual relish and aplomb. Bad never looked so good.  How does he make the bad guys so charming?  We just hate for them to lose. Darn. Ms. Legs from Here to There and Then Some does get him good. We won’t say how.

Sexist or not, Bruce was tres sensuel in this film. We hate sexists but we gotta admit, we would be willing to go a few rounds with this one.   The characters Bruce creates are always unique, never the same as any other he has played, and rarely disappoint.  As the French say, vive la guerre, in this case, the war between the sexes.  Let’s pop that DVD in again…





   

                          Magruder being a real MCP. Oink. Oink.