Alas, The Movie Misfires

By RICHARD SCHICKEL

It's the relationship, stupid. We've always accepted the fact that it would be intensified from time to time by the interruptions of various noisy MacGuffins--wacky car chases, imploding and exploding urban structures, the odd psychopath or two. But what we liked was solid, stolid Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) trying to cope with the erratic behavior of his partner, Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson), who didn't much care whether he lived or died and therefore courted death with alarming candor.

The trouble is that over the past decade Martin has undergone a healing process: from half-mad he dwindled first to charming eccentricity and now, in Lethal Weapon 4, he's just another guy with a commitment problem. In short, he's no longer an interesting problem for Murtaugh or even for Rene Russo's Lorna, the lady patiently waiting for his wedding ring.

Joe Pesci works his scuzzy Leo Getz character hard to take up the slack, but he's oldish news by now--and so are the film's action sequences, all frantic variations by director Richard Donner on gags we've seen before. New news Chris Rock works harder than anyone else trying to get laughs as a young detective helping the old pros pursue a gang that's smuggling illegal aliens into the country, but he's caught red-handed trying to steal the picture. Get some sneakers, kid. And try whispering.

--By Richard Schickel