The Ambulance (1990)

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Some film reviewers have been accused of giving away too much plot in their synopses- spoilers that ruin the film for the audience. "The Ambulance" marks the first instance I found where a writer/director mucked up his own film with a spoiler.

Josh (Eric Roberts) spots Cheryl (Janine Turner) on the streets and turns on the charm, trying to pick her up. Cheryl is polite but tries to brush him off, before suddenly collapsing. She is diabetic, and Josh promises to visit her in the hospital when the ambulance arrives to take her away. The problem is, Josh cannot find Cheryl. He tries local hospitals and the hospital the anonymous ambulance attendee gave, but no one has seen or heard of her. Josh goes to nutty unhelpful police lieutenant Spencer (James Earl Jones). Josh does meet Spencer's cute assistant officer Sandra (Megan Gallagher), but must still look for Cheryl on his own. Josh is a comic book artist (giving Stan Lee an unnecessary cameo) and draws posters of Cheryl, eventually attracting her roommate. Josh and the roommate go to a place Cheryl has told them to go in a frantic phone message, and the ambulance reappears.

I was half-expecting something along the lines of "Christine," with a creepy mysterious old ambulance picking up unsuspecting New Yorkers, who are never seen again. Instead, Cohen opts for a standard action script and blows the "big reveal" much to early in the film. Roberts is very good as Josh, and his comic timing with some of the throw-away one-liners makes them funnier than they really are. Gallagher makes Sandra a smart cop, never committing a stupid mistake just to draw out the film's action or running time. Jones and Buttons are a little sad in their respective roles, it is hard to watch Oscar-worthy talent like this reduced to crazy and foul mouthed roles just to pay the bills. Cohen's action sequences are very good. Watching that huge ambulance careening through the streets of New York City is a spectacle, but with his own spoiler in the opening moments of the film, watching Roberts run around and get beat up for an hour and a half wears on the nerves. By the time Josh is held in another police precinct as a witness to a murder unrelated to the plot, I gave up.

"The Ambulance" held a lot of potential and an interesting cast, too bad it could not hold my attention.

Stats:
(1990) 96 min. (* 1/2) out of five stars
-Written and Directed by Larry Cohen
-Cast: Eric Roberts, Janine Turner, Megan Gallagher, James Earl Jones, Red Buttons, Eric Braeden, Richard Bright, James Dixon, Stan Lee, Jill Gatsby, Martin Barter, Laurene Landon, Nick Chinlund
(R)