CHiPs '99 (1998) Larry Wilcox, Erik Estrada, Robert Pine, Paul Korver Movie Review

CHiPs '99 (1998)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox in CHiPs '99 (1998)

Cheese n CHiPs, a Favourite

It's been a while since Officer Frank 'Ponch' Poncherello (Erik Estrada) left the force, for one thing his former partner is now Captain Jon Baker (Larry Wilcox) and there are a new bunch of cops on the force, a lot younger and hungrier to make their mark such as Officer Peter Roulette (Paul Korver). But Ponch returns to the force up north in Marin County and whilst his return is a little awkward Jon is happy to see him. With a spate of car jackings going on in the area Jon assigns Ponch to the team which sees him working with Roulette and his partner Officer Sergeant McFall (David Ramsey) to try and crack the case whilst not getting in to too much trouble.

I have to be honest the only thing I remember about the original "CHiPs" is wanting to ride one of the police bikes, well that and the double act or Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox. As such there are parts of "CHiPs '99" which I am sure flew over my head as you have cameos from some of the actors who appeared in it as well as some scenes being recreated to give it that sense of nostalgia as well as some snippets of the old show.

Larry Wilcox and Erik Estrada in CHiPs '99 (1998)

But despite this "CHiPs '99" still entertains with its mix of crime fighting and light hearted fun, the sort of fun where realism goes out of the window and you don't care because the rest is so entertaining. As such what we get is plenty of banter between Ponch and Jon but also Ponch and the hot shot Roulette who is meant to be like a new version of Ponch. We then get the action with some over the top stunts when it comes to the bike riding and damsel in distress saving. There is also some over the top story developments with Ponch basically being an all action hero. Look I could go on but we have a crime and lots of light hearted fun and heroics and countless scenes which if it wasn't for this being "CHiPs" would have been terrible, well we do get a scene which features Judge Judy, Johnnie Cochran and a bag of dog poop.

As such it has to be said that whilst "CHiPs '99" sees many an old face such as Robert Pine and Larry Wilcox back in action it is Erik Estrada who is the star of this with that big smile and over the top mannerisms perfect for the comedy. Yet with that heart of gold and likeable persona it is just nice to spend some time in his company. Add in to the mix some great old songs and you don't care that so much of this is cheesy.

What this all boils down to is that "CHiPs '99" is some light hearted, over top fun which will remind anyone who grew up in the 70s and 80s how much fun the show and similar shows use to be. But it has to be said that some of this is ridiculously cheesy, cheesier than I thought a movie could go.


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