Sadly Over-hyped

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Cat burglar Karen McCoy (Kim Basinger) is released from prison after 6 years for the bank robbery. She's on parole with only the suit she went to court with. Her ex told her son Patrick that she's dead. Gary Buckner is her harsh parole officer. J.T. Barker (Val Kilmer) is an incompetent robber eager to be in her next job. She's trying to go straight but nobody is willing to hire an ex-con. J.T.'s relative Jack Schmidt (Terence Stamp) wants her to do one more job. Buckner threatens Karen with more prison unless she does the job. When she refuses, Patrick is kidnapped.The first half sets up for a solid caper movie. Everything is against Karen. She's the underdog with a heart of gold. The caper is functional. It's at least six years since Karen has done a job and she is still up to date with security tech. It's hard to imagine her ex holding off calling the cops. There are a few little things that add up to a less compelling caper movie.

From what I've seen (for the most part), if there's a Trans Am in a movie, then the movie's going to be good. "The Driver", "Smokey and the Bandit", "Donnie Darko", "Blue Thunder", all awesome, and each one proudly displaying a Firebird. Pretty good rule of thumb, thus far.Not so with the "The Real McCoy", which is mostly a brain-dead affair - in the sense that you can be half-comatose on the couch and still follow the plot. This thing's so formulaic, it doesn't take any brain power to keep up. It's just one heist movie cliché after another. They even manage to waste Terrence Stamp on a vanilla bad guy role (dammit, that should be a federal crime!). It's a little shocking just how meek Kim Basinger comes off here, what with her being the numero-uno cat burglar. Who knows, maybe Catwoman ruined me, but they could've hardened this character.5/10

Kim Basinger and Val Kilmer make an attractive couple in "Highlander" director Russell Mulcady's "The Real McCoy," but this miscast couple kindles little chemistry. "Johnny English" scenarists William Osborne and William Davies drew their inspiration for this lackluster Universal Pictures release from the Desmond Lowden novel "Bellman and True." The conflict is that the greedy, despicable villain kidnaps a professional criminal's son and forces her to rob a bank before they turn him loose. The haul is an $18 million plus payday, and a well-heeled Atlanta criminal bankrolls the endeavor. Meanwhile, our heroine—fresh out of prison after serving 6 years of a 10 year sentence—struggles to go straight, but she is swept back into the storm. Karen McCoy (Kim Basinger of Never Say Never Again") was also married. After she leaves the Athens Correctional Facility, she learns that her worthless ex-husband, Radly (Alex Van) has told her son that she is dead. Radly informs Karen that he burned all the letters that she sent to her son Patrick. During a convenience store stick-up during a rainy night, Karen encounters a bumbling criminal, J.T. Barker (Val Kilmer of "Batman Forever"), whose pistol falls apart at the scene of the crime. Later, J.T. informs his distant (Terence Stamp) relative about her. J.T.'s relative is none other than Jack Schmidt; he is the same guy who used Karen on a previous job. Karen blew that hold-up at the Atlanta Union Bank and she received a 10 year sentence. Karen wins parole but has the ill luck to land a corrupt parole supervisor, Gary Buckner (Gailard Sartain), who takes her to see Schmidt.This is another one of those impossible crime capers that Mulcady imbues will reasonable suspense and tension. The protagonists have to find a way to break in and escape despite the precautions that the bank has put in place to thwart criminals. What is different here is that our heroine remotely triggers the alarms repeatedly to wear out the security guards and the Atlanta police. Eventually, the authorities decide that nobody is trying to hold up the facility. Instead, they figure that a flaw in the system activates the alarm so they give it. This is a neat example of the man who cried 'wolf' scenario. At the same time, the filmmakers devise a way for the heroine to succeed without pulling off the robbery because she is supposed to be sympathetic. In other words, "The Real McCoy" succeeds as an incredible caper movie but the heroines don't make society suffer. The chief surprise occurs when our heroine turns the tables on her adversaries. Mulcady and his scribes make the villains look thoroughly reprehensible, particularly Gailard Sartain. The last minute scene on the airport runaway gets pretty tense. Terence Stamp makes a grim criminal. Basinger defends herself well enough, especially when she knees a thug in the groin and disarms him. Furthermore, Basinger isn't required to disrobe. Val Kilmer has his stupid act down pat. Mind you, Mulcady never lets thing dawdle. The scenes in the bank as the cops find themselves being summoned for one more time are amusing. The best thing about "The Real McCoy" is that the heroine and her son gets away. Meantime, she exacts revenge on Jack and his evil cronies."The Real McCoy" is formulaic material presented with a modicum of style. Basinger looks beautiful in every outfit that she dons.

The Real McCoy has one of the most impossible storylines around. But how can you not love a movie which contains the line, "What's not normal about getting on a plane with your mom and going down to Rio with 3 million dollars?" Some parts, especially the set-up, are slow, but on the whole it's a great, implausible romp. It's also a must for Kilmer and Basinger fans.