Best Defense

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Best Defense

R

1984

1h 34m

Comedy

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4 Reviews

13%

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5,000+ Ratings

An engineer (Dudley Moore) fails to get the bugs out of a tank before an Army officer (Eddie Murphy) has to use it in Kuwait.

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Vincent Canby

New York Times

It really isn't easy to make a movie as mind-bendingly bad as Best Defense. It takes hard work, a very great deal of money and people so talented that it matters when they fail with such utter lack of distinction.

Rated: 0.5/5

Oct 30, 2007

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Trevor Johnston

Time Out

A dismally unfunny shambles.

Oct 30, 2007

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TV Guide

Try as they may, neither the cast nor the filmmakers can cover up the fact that this movie, like Moore's prototype, is a dud.

Rated: 0/4

Oct 30, 2007

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Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Spirituality & Practice

Aiming for the zaniness of Catch-22, this comedy misfires.

Rated: 1/5

Aug 21, 2004

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Audience Member

Such a waste of talent on a poor scripted comedy

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

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Audience Member

Me gusto mucho, es interesante las dos lineas temporales que presenta, una en 1982 con el ingeniero desarrollando el sistema del tanque y la otra en kuwait 1984 con el sargento pribando el super tanque. Si bien por momentos tiene un humor muy simple e infantil, el concepto general es entretenido. A pesar de las pobres criticas recibidas cuando se estreno y que Eddi Murphy odio hacerla. Con el vhs y cable se popularizo

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

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Audience Member

Underrated and hilarious.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

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Audience Member

Completely disjointed given its two stars never meet, nor actually exist in the same time period. If you read into the background of this film though Eddie Murphy was not in it initially, but even drafting him in to add extra scenes to try and lift this comedy does not work.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

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Audience Member

I was bored....Damn right sleepy 20 minutes into this. The story is cool but the delivery is a bad punchline one after another.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

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Audience Member

Good idea but that's all you get in this chemistry-free, unfunny, and glacier paced garbage. a film that Dudley Moore/Eddie Murphy never talked about after filming was done. Even when Murphy hosted SNL in 1985, he said Best Defense was one of the worst movies ever. Truer words.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

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Willard Huyck

Director

Dudley Moore

Wylie Cooper

Eddie Murphy

Lieutenant T.M. Landry

Kate Capshaw

Laura Cooper

Helen Shaver

Clair Lewis

George Dzundza

Steve Loparino

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Synopsis

An engineer (Dudley Moore) fails to get the bugs out of a tank before an Army officer (Eddie Murphy) has to use it in Kuwait.

Director: Willard Huyck
Producer: Gloria Katz
Screenwriter: Gloria Katz, Willard Huyck
Production Co: Cinema Group Ventures, Paramount Pictures
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2011
Runtime: 1h 34m

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