Crocodile Dundee in L.A.

Somebody at Paramount Pictures must have owed Paul Hogan a humongous favor to green-light this lifeless, asinine, staggeringly inept (and 15 years too late) sequel. The obscenely contrived plot follows Mick Dundee, girlfriend Sue Charlton (Linda Kozlowski) and their son Mikey (Serge Cockburn) to L.A. as Sue takes over the local newsroom of her dad's newspaper chain. The previous bureau chief died suspiciously while poking around the finances of a B-grade studio that cranks out money-losing action flicks for Eastern Europe, so Mick goes undercover on the set to investigate. Meanwhile, he and Mikey meander around aimlessly in search of trite and tired SoCal lifestyle caricatures, haggard franchise gags, out-of-date pop culture japes and lame Hollywood antics. Hogan's Subaru commercials have 200 times the spirit and charm of this disaster. Not recommended. (R. Blackwelder)