- Liam Neeson (STAR WARS, EPISODE 1: THE PHANTOM MENACE) and Oliver Platt (BICENTENNIAL MAN) star with Sandra Bullock (HOPE FLOATS) in an outrageously offeat comedy about what happens when a busy undercover cop suddenly loses his legendary nerves of steel! The only way Charlie (Neeson), a respected D.E.A. agent traumatized by a hair-raising run-in with some ruthless gangsters, can do his job is with
Liam Neeson (STAR WARS, EPISODE 1: THE PHANTOM MENACE) and Oliver Platt (BICENTENNIAL MAN) star with Sandra Bullock (HOPE FLOATS) in an outrageously offeat comedy about what happens when a busy undercover cop suddenly loses his legendary nerves of steel! The only way Charlie (Neeson), a respected D.E.A. agent traumatized by a hair-raising run-in with some ruthless gangsters, can do his job is with the embarrassing treatments of an attractive nurse (Bullock) and the questionable psychotherapy provide! d by a highly unstable support group! And since he's stuck in a deep-cover sting operation until he nabs a wisecracking, trigger-happy Mafia leader who scares him to death (Platt), Charlie can only hope to fake his tough-as-nails image long enough to make this one last bust ... and make it out alive! Loaded with huge stars and big laughs -- you can't miss with this high-caliber comedy hit!
Gun Shy had the misfortune to come along after several other "killer pursues therapy" movies/TV shows (
Grosse Pointe Blank,
Analyze This,
The Sopranos); in this case, it's a DEA agent and not a Mafioso, but that wasn't enough to keep it from getting swept aside. Liam Neeson (
Schindler's List,
Rob Roy) plays Charlie, a government undercover agent whose last mission got botched, resulting in his partner's death. But the DEA isn't willing to let him get out early; clinging to his fantasy of a seaside retirement home, Charlie agrees to one more mission! , even though he's convinced that the New York City gangster h! e's inve stigating will kill him. On his flight to the city, he meets a psychiatrist who encourages him to join a group therapy session. Meanwhile, it turns out that the gangster Fulvio, played by busy character actor Oliver Platt (
Funny Bones,
Bulworth), is equally miserable with his career. Curiously, Neeson and Platt both seem initially miscast--Neeson exudes a solid imperturbability, and Platt comes off as too soft to be really threatening--but over the course of the movie, their performances become increasingly compelling, perhaps because they are cast against type. Their neuroses, which initially seem like weak gags, start feeling genuine and sad.
Gun Shy is marketed as a comedy, but its strength is in the truth of its characters. Sandra Bullock (who also produced the film) has a small role as a gastroenterologist with whom Charlie falls in love.
--Bret Fetzer
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