My husband was disgusted to discover I'd never seen this film before. I'm not a fan of Nick Nolte, as I find he always plays brash, in your face, unlikeable characters, which may be why I hadn't wanted to watch it in the past, but I am a fan of Eddie Murphy (who isn't?), and I thought I'd give it a chance. I didn't immediately get into the film (Nolte didn't come across well at all, and I wanted Annette O'Toole to tell him where to go!), but as soon as Murphy's character appeared I had to see how the relationship was going to play out. Of course, Murphy's dialogue was brilliant - every time he started talking about 'trim' I was in fits of giggles - and it was great to see Nolte become more and more enraged by his positive and cheeky nature to the point where they were almost arrested for scrapping in the street.
Part of the charm of the film is the stark contrast between the two lead characters shown against a backdrop of extreme racial stereotyping. It's just a shame it's done with such a terrible 80s soundtrack (what was it with all the sax?!).
Nolte's unlikeable grumpy character vibe works pretty well here in contrast to Murphy's loveable rogue. I don't know if it works in any other films but would be willing to be proved wrong if anyone has any Nolte film recommendations...