Turner & Hooch (1989)

Hanks, it seems, is good enough to survive any film. The dog, too, works wonders with a standard script.

But forget the vet-cum-love interest and the fish. It's the canine (not to be confused with "K-9") stuff that really matters.

Until its grossly miscalculated bummer of an ending, Turner & Hooch is a routine but amiable cop-and-dog comedy enlivened by the charm of Tom Hanks and his homely-as-sin canine partner.

As a bunch, the film makers have created the sort of mystery story that might well puzzle a 12-year-old who had never read a mystery story before and wasn't paying attention anyway, and the sort of love story that 12-year-olds might throw away to read the mystery story, along with the sort of dog story many dogs would actually enjoy--if the pages were edible...Luckily the team of Hanks and Beasley are around to save the show, tell a few snappy stories, dance a few licks, chase a few crooks, make you laugh, make you cry. Who needs writers?

Five people were credited with co-writing TURNER & HOOCH, and rarely have so many labored to so little effect. There's barely enough to make up an agreeable made-for-TV movie in this film.