Heart Condition (1990)

You get the feeling, right from the opening images, this is a too serious film to be a comedy. I don't think I laughed at anything, except two things, and I'm not really sure if they were, that they were from this movie. Only a couple of things manage to carry this movie off, favorably. It's definitely the chemistry between two great actors + a great actress, sorely very underused. Bigoted cop, Hoskins playing the role to a nice tee, suffers a major heart attack, after years of eating those fast foods, we so much love. He has a transplant from a dead guy, Washington. Coincidentally, it's the slick lawyer of a former girlfriend/prostitute (the versatile Webb) he's been tailing. And guess what, after surviving the heart attack, he reappears, only for Hoskins's eyes, where he implores this cop, now re-assigned to desk duty, and a strict diet, to him find the killers, he fell afoul of. Denzel is perfectly suited for his role, where we are reminded of just how good an actor he is. Webb, an actress I like, is just as good, looking beautiful as Hoskins's girl, who has a secret of her own. The film doesn't work as a comedy, despite some cute dialogue of Washington, and some mad antics from Hoskins's parading as a nutso. Still as an entertaining crime adventure film, it works, mainly from it's contributing performances, where as an end treat, we have that great song by Bonnie Raitt It also again, raises that issue of health, where like me, a too little number are adverse to eating the healthy stuff.

In Los Angeles, the call girls Crystal Gerrity (Chloe Webb) and Peisha (Eva LaRue) are partying with the prominent Senator Marquand (Frank R. Roach) that has an overdose. Crystal keeps the film with the photos she had taken and together with Peisha, she meets the lawyer Napoleon Stone (Denzel Washington) that is her boyfriend. Meanwhile the racist and bigoted cop Jack Moony (Bob Hoskins) sees Stone in his car with Crystal, who was his girlfriend, and chases him despite the protest of his partner Harry Zara (Ray Baker) that wants to be promoted to detective. However Jack has a heart attack but is saved by the heart of Stone, who had a car accident. Out of the blue, Jack sees the ghost of Stone that tells him that he was murdered. Jack is forced to team-up with Stone to investigate who killed him. But no one else can see Stone but him. "Heart Condition" is a strange film that is lost between comedy with heavy hand and crime. The plot is funny is some moments and violent in others. There are holes in the story, like for example, how Jack would explain the large amount that he had spent. In addition, this character is non-likable. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "Uma Estranha Condição" ("A Strange Condition")

This is a very nice film and a well made one at that.Though I doubt that the story stretched any of the actors' abilities, it did not have to. The story is light hearted and has something for everybody. It is one of my favourites. Mr Washington shows a talent for comedic roles.I do have a soft spot for ghost stories and this does not disappoint.*Spoiler Alert* It does contain a strange Easter egg though. At about 1h 24.5m into the film, when Crystal and her baby are being forced/pushed back onto the sofa; "Rega, rega" can be heard. This is Hebrew for "wait, wait" or "wait a moment" depending on context.

"Ghost" was a huge success. In the same year James Parriot's "Heart Condititon" made us feel deja vu. His film is boring, brutal and too serious for a comedy actor like Bob Hoskins (who really made us nervous with his personal "Mona Lisa"-style by the end of the movie). Denzel Washington seems to be boring too. Parriot ain't got gift for filmmaking.