Product: Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles [VHS] (2001)
Rating: 3.0
Third time unlucky
While great comedy should often appear effortless, that doesn't mean that the word should be taken literally, though on one level Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles can truly be said to be an effortless comedy. Absolutely no effort whatsoever has been made: it's in focus and the microphone never creeps into shot as uninteresting things happen in the most uninteresting way possible while the cast are given uninteresting things to say to bulk out the running time to the contractually agreed length, but that's about it for exertion. That the `plot' revolves around a smuggling operation financing a movie studio producing a guaranteed flop third episode in a dead franchise could possibly be seen as a moment of post-modernism, but it's probably just a desperate cry for help from the screenwriters. All the charm and wit of the first (and to a lesser extent the second) film has vanished, taking the characters and goodwill with them: Paul Hogan is starting to look a leathery as the crocs themselves and the most interesting thing about Linda Kozlowski here is trying to pinpoint the plastic surgery through the soft focus filters she's often shot with and work out how much of her disengaged performance is down to boredom and how much to Botox. Both are saddled with characters that simply aren't believable at their age anymore even if they do now have a rather bland son to acknowledge the passing years. She's a primary school play version of a reporter while somehow Mick Dundee seems to have suddenly become a complete simpleton with no memory of all the things he encountered in the first two films in the hope that the audience will find his newfound ignorance funny rather than simply bewildering - it's not even as if his character took a whack to the head in a contrived plot point, it's just plain lazy writing. Things improve slightly to become vaguely watchable in the last half hour, but that's not exactly a recommendation. Belated threequels are usually desperate attempts from faded stars to revive their career and bank balance, but this is so utterly disinterested in doing anything but visiting the cashpoint that it practically qualifies as a non-film.