The Adventures Of Ford Fairlane (1990)
aka: Ford Fairlane
mystery
directed by : Renny Harlin
featuring : Andrew Dice Clay - Wayne Newton - Priscilla Presley - Morris Day - Lauren Holly
running time : 1 hour 41 minutes
Controversial and often offensive stand-up comedian Andrew Dice Clay made his debut as a feature film star in this crude comedy. Fairlane is a "rock and roll detective" who works in the music business, has an office on Sunset Boulevard, and drives a 1957 Ford, with clothing to match. He floats through the rock clubs of Hollywood, picking up women and clients, and soon stumbles into a case involving the death of a heavy metal singer, a corrupt music executive (Wayne Newton), the murder of a radio shock-jock (Gilbert Gottfried), and the kidnapping of the jock's daughter (Maddie Corman). Music stars like Sheila E. and Motley Crue singer Vince Neil also have cameos in the film, which attempts to transplant Clay's aggressively obnoxious stage persona into a movie environment.

Virtually sweeping the 1991 Razzie Awards, taking home the trophies for Worst Actor, Worst Picture, and Worst Screenplay, this brain-dead piece of tripe tries to graft the obnoxious stage persona of stand-up comedian Clay onto a rock & roll-flavored detective film. The effort fails spectacularly, for a variety of reasons. Among them are the fact that Clay's not much of an actor, that his act is strictly for misogynistic frat boys, and that the script reaches new heights of thick-witted, dunce-cap imbecility, its idea of funny being to name its hero after a cool car. Plus there's the conceit that the music industry needs its own detective, that he'd make enough scratch to pay Sunset Boulevard rent, that if there were such a creature, anybody in their right mind would turn to this guy, the village idiot at worst, a hanger-on and wannabe at best. There is one funny bit, and here it is so that the movie need not be experienced firsthand: A Howard Stern-style radio shock jock played by Gottfried is murdered on the air, but listeners mistake it for one of the vile-spewing host's comic routines. Clearly, a lot of money was spent here; Ford Fairlane looks great, director Renny Harlin capturing some snazzy, colorful images, but despite his apparent eye for composition and hiring terrific cinematographers, Harlin has yet to make a great film. His pictures look incredible, but the same can be said of many commercials that are more artistically fulfilling than his work to date, and this is one of his worst.