The Bodyguard (1992)

Directed by Mick Jackson. Starring Kevin Costner, Whitney Houston, Gary Kemp, Bill Cobbs, Mike Starr, Michele Lamar Richards, Ralph Waite, Tomas Arana, DeVaughn Nixon, Christopher Birt, Robert Wuhl, Richard Schiff, Gerry Bamman. [R]

Slick but shabby star vehicle brings together Costner (restricted by the dour formula of his character background and arc) and Houston (restricted by her undistinguished acting chops and clichéd diva role) and generates not a single puff of smoke between them. She’s a spoiled superstar who’s been micromanaged into ignorance about how serious the threats from an unknown stalker are; he’s the gruff professional bodyguard brought in to protect her. The script says they fall in love, but there’s no evidence of that onscreen, and the thriller aspects are also a wash since the villain is embarrassingly mishandled—his (surprise?) identity, motivations, and methodology are all an indifferent muddle. Lawrence Kasdan’s screenplay was almost two decades old before it was finally filmed (initially considered as a vehicle for Steve McQueen!), but no one thought to scrape off the mold first, choosing instead to try covering it all up in glossy visuals and bankable headliners. Those samurai allusions/parallels are especially strained. Soundtrack produced three top five singles (including a diamond-selling cover of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You”), and wound up becoming the highest-selling movie soundtrack of all-time, overtaking Saturday Night Fever.

40/100