''Undercover Blues'' is a 1993

action comedy film Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre. Film The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of acti ...

about a family of secret agents written by Ian Abrams and directed by

Herbert Ross Herbert David Ross (May 13, 1927 – October 9, 2001) was an American actor, choreographer, director and producer who worked predominantly in theater and film. He was nominated for two Academy Awards and a Tony Award. He is known for directing ...

and starring

Kathleen Turner Mary Kathleen Turner (born June 19, 1954) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, and two Tony Awards. Turner became widely ...

and

Dennis Quaid Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an American actor known for a wide variety of dramatic and comedic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the late 1970s, some of his notable credits include '' Breaking Away'' (1979), '' The ...

Plot

Jane and Jefferson Blue, a wise-cracking couple of spies for an unnamed U.S. covert organization on

maternity leave Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, Paternity (law), paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" an ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

with their baby daughter whom they dote on, though they are unable to agree on whether her name should be Louise Jane or Jane Louise. With the baby's arrival, they have decided to move on to "Chapter Two" of their marriage, retiring from field assignment in an attempt to give their daughter a normal life. While they enjoy the tourism of the city and their daughter, they are the repeated targets of a low-level mugger called 'Muerte' (Tucci) who they foil with relative ease each time he tries to mug them. Frank, their former handler from Jeff and Jane's espionage days asks the duo for one more mission in exchange for longer maternity leave and an added bonus to their salary. The two accept and learn that a former Czech Secret Police officer, Novacek whom the Blues had former run-ins before, has acquired an experimental plastic explosive called C-22. Though they cannot extradite Novacek, the two are tasked with re-acquiring the explosive and capturing Novacek. As Jeff and Jane begin looking into the C-22 explosive and those rumored to be connected to Novacek, Lieutenant Sawyer continually follows the Blues; suspecting their motives for being in New Orleans. Though they continually slip through his grasp, the Blues confide in him and his partner Sergeant Halsey why they are there and whom they are looking for. One night, a disguised Jane has Muerte contact Novacek after Jeff had planted a tracker on him during another attempted mugging at the zoo. Jeff follows the tracker with Sawyer following close behind. Though Jeff attempts to persuade Sawyer to leave as he's way over his head, Sawyer is adamant about joining him. Jane and their daughter are soon kidnapped by Novacek's minions and brought to her hideout. As Jeff demands Jane be freed, she counters by asking Jane to give up their daughter. Jane tosses a baby-disguised explosive and the group escapes to track down Novacek and the C-22 which is in a salt mine. Jane grapples with Novacek until the latter has the upper hand. With the C-22 in a case nearby, Jeff taunts Novacek and uses a flamethrower near the case; demanding she let Jane go. Jane breaks free and kicks Novacek aside, only for a helicopter to arrive with one of Novacek's former subordinates; ready to take Novacek away. As she boards the helicopter, Novacek is promptly handcuffed and taken away to be extradited by Frank. The Blues celebrate the victory and leave New Orleans by boat but not before Muerte attempts one last mugging. Like before, they kick Muerte off the boat and toss him a life preserver before sailing towards Cuba.

Cast

as Jane Blue *

as Jefferson Blue *

Fiona Shaw Fiona Shaw (born Fiona Mary Wilson; 10 July 1958) is an Irish film and theatre actress. She is known for her roles as Petunia Dursley in the ''Harry Potter'' film series (2001–2010), Marnie Stonebrook in the fourth season of the HBO ser ...

as Paulina Novacek *

Stanley Tucci Stanley Tucci Jr. ( ; born November 11, 1960) is an American actor and filmmaker. Involved in acting from a young age, he made his film debut in John Huston's '' Prizzi's Honor'' (1985), and continued to play a variety of supporting roles in fil ...

as Muerte * Larry Miller as Sgt. Halsey * Park Overall as Bonnie Newman *

Tom Arnold Tom Arnold may refer to: * Tom Arnold (actor) (born 1959), American actor * Tom Arnold (economist) (born 1948), Irish CEO of Concern Worldwide * Tom Arnold (footballer) (1878–?), English footballer * Tom Arnold (literary scholar) (1823–1900), B ...

as Vern Newman *

Obba Babatunde Obba may refer to: * Obba (town), an ancient town and former bishopric in the Roman province of Africa, now a Latin Catholic titular see * Oba (goddess), a Yoruba goddess ; Biology * ''Obba'' (fungus), a fungus genus in the order Polyporales * ...

as Lt. Sawyer *

Ralph Brown Ralph William John Brown (born 18 June 1957) is an English actor and writer, known for playing Danny the drug dealer in ''Withnail and I'', the security guard Aaron (a.k.a. "85") in ''Alien 3'', DJ Bob Silver in ''The Boat That Rocked'' aka ' ...

as Leamington * Jan Triska as Axel *

Marshall Bell Archibald Marshall Bell (born September 28, 1942) is an American character actor. He has appeared in many character roles in movies and television. He is known for roles in '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge'' (1985), '' Stand by M ...

as Sikes *

Richard Jenkins Richard Dale Jenkins (born May 4, 1947) is an American actor who is well known for his portrayal of deceased patriarch Nathaniel Fisher on the HBO funeral drama series '' Six Feet Under'' (2001–2005). He began his career in theater at the Tri ...

as Frank *

Dennis Lipscomb Dennis Lipscomb (March 1, 1942 – July 30, 2014) was an American actor. Lipscomb's first feature film was '' Union City'' (1980). From the early 1980s to the 1990s, Lipscomb appeared in key roles in various motion pictures including '' Love Ch ...

as Foster *

Saul Rubinek Saul Hersh Rubinek (born July 2, 1948) is a German-born Canadian actor, director, producer, and playwright. He is widely known for his television roles, notably Artie Nielsen on ''Warehouse 13,'' Donny Douglas on ''Frasier'', Lon Cohen on ''A N ...

as Mr. Ferderber *

Dave Chappelle David Khari Webber Chappelle ( ; born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for his satirical comedy sketch series ''Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006), which he starred in until quitting in the middle of p ...

as Ozzie * Jenifer Lewis as Dorothy *

Dakin Matthews Melvin Richard "Dakin" Matthews (born November 7, 1940) is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and theatrical scholar. Best known as Herb Kelcher in ''My Two Dads'' (1987–1989), Hanlin Charleston in ''Gilmore Girls'' (2000–2007) ...

as Police Captain *

Aleksander Krupa Aleksander Krupa (born 18 March 1947), often credited as Olek Krupa, is a Polish actor, active in film and television roles and best known for playing villains and/or criminals, such as in ''Eraser'', ''Blue Streak'', ''Home Alone 3'' as Peter B ...

as Zubic

Reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

— which assigns a weighted mean score — the film has a score of 46 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. Jane Horwitz felt in her review for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' that "Dennis Quaid and Kathleen Turner act so darn cute in "Undercover Blues" that they risk fallen archness. It's kind of fun to watch them dance around on tiptoe instead of creating real characters, but one can't help wondering what the whole enterprise would have been like with a director who knew how to make them play against the material a little."

References

External links

* * * * * * {{Herbert Ross 1993 films 1993 action comedy films American spy comedy films American action comedy films 1990s English-language films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films directed by Herbert Ross Films shot in New Orleans Films set in New Orleans 1990s spy comedy films Films scored by David Newman 1990s American films