Heart Condition

Bob Hoskins and Denzel Washington are two of the more interesting actors in Hollywood, so what they're doing in this movie is a big mystery. Certainly each could have done better; that both would agree to this film makes you wonder what they're putting in the water out there. Hoskins is a bigoted L.A. cop with a bad ticker and a penchant for greasy, vein-clogging cheeseburgers; Washington is a slick attorney who Hoskins believes is crooked. When Washington is killed and Hoskins suffers a heart attack, Hoskins gets the lawyer's heart in a transplant--and then starts seeing his donor's ghost. The lawyer maintains he was murdered and wants Hoskins to find his killer. Much mock frivolity involves Hoskins talking out loud to someone who's not there, to the bemusement of his friends and superiors. Har har. These actors give a lot--way more than the writer ever did. --Marshall Fine