Burt Reynolds had a strong run of light action comedies through seventies and eighties, often typecast as a self assured, gum chewin’ smug ladies’ man who in the end became a tired self caricature.

I never was a big fan.

Curiously enough, he just started to get better and gaining some real charisma as he got a little older in the late eighties, just when his star was already setting. In Rent-a-Cop he gets paired up with Liza Minnelli, who plays unconvincingly a hooker who lacks seems to lack a personality, but really delivers big time on the irritation scale.

The plot seems to be pasted off a number of similar average movies, the chemistry between the lead characters never quite work and you can tell the level of ambition hasn’t been too high here. Here’s the twist: The movie still manages to work somehow despite all of this as soon as you start realising it’s not going to be a work of art.

Or even memorable after a few hours for that matter.

80s-o-meter: 84%

Total: 59%