Some things are inevitable. The sun sets, the tides rise, and the full moon inexorably bring out a number of truly crazy sons-of-bitches who — without fail — make for some truly memorable case logs for law enforcement officials near and far. Another thing that is entirely unavoidable is the reunion movie: that all-too-common gathering of performers who used to entertain audiences who join together once more for one final hoorah (or to try and promote a remake). During the late '90s, as many a fool parted with his money in preparation for what they believed was the inevitable conclusion of life as we know it, several popular film and TV series decided to capitalize on the numbers game.
Not those kind of numbers, kids. I'm talkin' instead about movies (theatrical or otherwise) bearing monikers such as Blues Brothers 2000, Total Recall 2070, and — our guest of honor this evening — CHiPs '99.
Because, let's face it, kids: no one ever got tired of Ponch and Judy. Er, Jon. Excuse me.
Fifteen years after the demise of the popular television series CHiPs, Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox weren't really doing too terribly much. Wilcox had founded both a production and marketing company as well as appeared in TV features nobody seemed to notice. Estrada, on the other hand, was notable for being the only person of Hispanic/Latino descent to not speak Spanish — a language he had to pick up in record time in order to land a part in a telenovela in order to pay his bills. So, when the TNT Network waved some cash in the air to reunite, both parties shouted an exceptionally enthusiastic "Hellz to da mutherfucking yes!" (or something to that affect) and signed on the dotted line.
Sadly, neither of them demanded to take a look at the script first. But then, when you've done very little more than television work for years on end, it's hard to differentiate between what makes a good television series and what makes a TV movie worthwhile. Or so I can only guess. I'm kidding either way, of course, kids: any chance to see Estrada and Wilcox put on those helmets and ride those motorized two-wheelers again is one to invest some time in for that reason alone. The very fact that the story is so silly is just extra icing on the cheesecake.
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