Parents' Guide to The Rookie (1990)

Critically panned in 1990, this film hasn't benefitted from age. Clint Eastwood's The Rookie (1990) is a dated and bland attempt at gritty cop drama. Granted, the film's age might explain (but not excuse) the casual, overt, and explicit racism and homophobia, with main character's using terms like "f--got" and "beaner" with ease and comfort, but age can't explain the horrible writing, the ridiculous set pieces, and the bad chemistry between Eastwood and Sheen. The two stars try their best to build off each other, but both characters are written so stiffly that watching them try to get along becomes painfully awkward. It's clear that the writers try to get in as many "cool soundbites" or snarky quips as possible to best take advantage of Eastwood's famous delivery. It's too bad none of these lines hit.

Further, the female characters are hilariously thinly drawn from a very limited man brain—or two, writers Boaz Yakin (Now You See Me) and Scott Spiegel (Evil Dead II), and their only roles in this film are to fret and worry about the men. Meanwhile, the main characters, Nick and David, are gritty cops who will do whatever it takes to get the job done, including causing massive amounts of public damage, murder, assault, and more. A realistically conceived plot this is not. Evidently, the "gritty violence" is meant to convey a realism that just isn't there. Clearly, though, Eastwood must have learned from the experience, as his next film was the very well received Unforgiven.