Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Scott LeBrun Eric Roberts is engaging as Josh Baker, a comic book artist who relentlessly pursues (some people may call it hassling) a pretty girl (Janine Turner) whom he's spied before on the streets of NYC. When she collapses, and an old model ambulance spirits her away, she seems to just disappear afterwards. Josh becomes a man obsessed, as he determines to find her. While he repeatedly gets his own life threatened, he antagonizes a jovial NYPD detective (James Earl Jones).Legendary independent filmmaking auteur Larry Cohen has typically been a great idea man, even if his stories can sometimes get muddled and silly. This one is a little more focused, if still outrageous. It does look like Cohen had a higher-than-usual budget on this thing, and it allows for fine action scenes and stunts. But key to actually making "The Ambulance" a notch or two above routine in its tongue-in-cheek quality. The sense of humour takes dominance, especially when it comes to the sardonic attitude of people like Lt. Spencer (Mr. Jones) and a hostile nurse (Deborah Hedwall). But it still never quite clicks until Red Buttons shows up. Red plays a chatty, elderly live wire, supposedly a former journalist, who befriends Josh while the two of them rest in a hospital.One standout chase sequence leads Josh and one of two evil ambulance attendants into some cramped quarters, leading the viewer to marvel at how Cohen and company managed to get these shots. Use of locations is excellent, as you would expect from Cohen, the forward momentum is impressive, and both Turner and the delectable Megan Gallagher add plenty of sex appeal; Gallagher plays an NYPD uniformed officer who becomes sympathetic to Joshs' plight.Roberts, sporting an awe-inspiring mullet, does do some hamming, but never to an unbearable degree. Jones is a riot as the edgy, weary, seen-it-all veteran detective. Eric "Victor Newman" Braeden is likewise quite the hoot as the diabolical villain, referred to only as "The Doctor". His final dialogue to Roberts is reminiscent of the kind of thing that Scooby-Doo villains would ALWAYS say. The very fine cast also includes Cohen regulars like Jill Gatsby (the directors' daughter), James Dixon, and Laurene Landon, and other familiar faces such as Hedwall ("Alone in the Dark" '82), Richard Bright ("The Godfather"), Nick Chinlund ("Con Air"), Susan Blommaert ("Pet Sematary"), and Beatrice Winde ("Dangerous Minds"). Since Roberts is playing a Marvel Comics artist, it allows for the standard cameo by Marvel head honcho Stan Lee, whose big moment involves him telling Roberts to take care of his personal problems on his own time."The Ambulance" is not among the best Cohen works, like "It's Alive" and "God Told Me To", but it's quite fun nevertheless.Seven out of 10.

lost-in-limbo I hadn't seen "The Ambulance" for quite awhile, but I had a good time re-visiting it and this was one of the first works I had seen of filmmaker Larry Cohen. It might not be one of Cohen's highly regarded pieces, but "The Ambulance" is a fun, gripping slice of paranoia with an injection of black humour. The concept is audaciously ludicrous and Eric Roberts' ham-fisted lead performance is full of energy (and lets not forget that hypnotic mullet when in motion), along with James Earl Jones small, but cynically meaty role as a rundown detective on the edge. Moving at a fast, uniformed tempo, Cohen's boldly tight direction never lets up (where he knows how to shoot on location for maximum effect) and his writing manages to stay one step ahead as you get pulled along for the dangerous ride with its engineered thrills. There always seems to be some sort of threat at every turn for Robert's character and this keeps it excitingly intense, if daftly over-the-top with comedic results. Especially its cheesy climax in a night club with some berserk ambulance driving and of course its irony-laced revelation that you won't see coming. Roberts' character sure didn't. The plot takes on a modern approach to its mad doctor formula, staying quite dark and full of mystery in the chase/or race to uncover the truth while also trying to convince people of the threat. Roberts' plays Josh Baker a comic book artist who one day goes about asking out the women of his dreams (a stunning Janine Turner) who he sees everyday out on the streets of New York. An incident sees her collapsing with Josh by her side and then a mysterious vintage ambulance appears and whisks her off. So he goes to one hospital after another with no such luck. He thinks there might just be more to it, as he uncovers and now he's running for his life with no one believing him there's a phantom ambulance kidnapping people. Eric Braeden is suitably clinical as "the doctor" that's behind the kidnappings and Megan Gallagher offers good support as a police officer we can trust. Red Buttons is enjoyably snappy and Cohen regular James Dixon shows up too.

sol **SPOILERS** From the mind of Larry Cohen comes another off-the-wall cult-like classic about a runaway ambulance who's in the hunt on the streets of New York City for people suffering from insulin shock.This crazed doctor,Eric Braeden,having his hospital hidden inside a building housing a disco dance hall has come up with this operation that, he thinks, can cure diabetes and plans to make a mint on it. Braeden has his goons driving in an ambulance picking up unsuspecting diabetic New Yorkers off the streets and sent to his place for further study which ends up with most of them in the local morgue. Cartoonist Josh Baker, Eric Roberts, trying to hit on and pick up Cheryl, Janine Turner, has her fall into a coma, due to a diabetic attack. Cheryl is quickly picked up by Dr. Braeden's killer ambulance never to be seen again. Josh going to all the local hospitals finds that Ceryl wasn't admitted in any of them and when he starts snooping around. The crazy Doc has his goons out looking from him and having Josh put under the knife even though he's not a diabetic as well as being in perfect health, physically but not all that mentally.Josh ending up in the hospital, after he's attacked by a gang of muggers, has Braeden's goons slip into the hospital disguised as police in order to kidnap him. In the hospital Josh together with his hospital room-mate NY Post reporter Elias Zacharia, Red Buttons, break out and make a run for it to the NY Post headquarters where Elias ends up getting kidnapped.Totally outrageous movie with more holes in it then the Normandy Beaches on D-Day but still holds your attention. There's loads of fun watching the wacky acting of Roberts as well as that of NYPD Let. Spencer, James Earl Jones, who's suffering from burn-out and a string of nerves breakdowns that has his superiors wondering if he can still handle his job. With Let. Spencer run down and run over by the homicidal ambulance, after trying to rescue the kidnapped Zacharia, Eric gets together with police officer Malloy (Magan Gallagher), who's Spencer's police secretary at the 33rd Precinct, as they track down where the ambulance is secretly parked in the disco where it's is used a a prop on the dance floor. The disco is also where Dr. Braeden's office and laboratory are hidden upstairs.Hard to follow but still has it's moments with both Eric Roberts and Red Buttons together with Magan Gallagher putting an end to Dr. Braeden's mad plans to make the people of the city of New York guinea pigs in his insane plan to cure diabetes; by killing those who are afflicted with it.

jiangliqings ** 1/2 out of ****Larry Cohen's last directorial attempt at anything resembling the horror genre film is different and yet much the same as his previous outings. Gone is the gritty, semi-documentary approach, giving way to crisper editing and a fairly slick, Hollywood look. Those dismayed by that will still be pleased to know Cohen's trademark quirky humor is still present, and this time his movie is played almost completely for laughs. Yeah, Q was an intentionally absurd affair, but some of the fun was offset by that gritty look, and Gold Told me to was pretty damn serious from beginning to end. But enough about those film, how's The Ambulance? Surprisingly, despite a lame title, it's his most amusingly funny movie to date.Eric Robert stars as Joshua Baker, a comic book artist with a crush on a woman (Janine Turner) he passes on the street everyday. Finally, he musters up the courage one day to approach her, but as he speaks to her, she suddenly collapses and is taken away by an ambulance. Josh later visits the hospital she should have gone to, but discovers no one of her first name or description ever arrived. From there, Cohen piles on an adventure story of sorts set in New York about evil doctors and ambulance attendents who are after diabetics, and one man's quest to get to the bottom of it all. Believe me, this is all more enjoyable than it might sound.Given such a premise, it's possible this could have been played as a straight, fast-paced thriller with many twists and turns. But Cohen opts for a more comical route, and as if to ensure that we understand that, he even gives away the mystery ten minutes into the film! Yeah, I had been expecting something along the lines of a suspense/thriller, and I was initially a little disappointed to see this played out as a comedy, but quickly re-evaluating my expectations, The Ambulance really turned out to be a pretty enjoyable movie that put me through a lot of giggling fits. Yes, it's been a damn long time since I've seen a movie that opts for humor without resorting to potty jokes.The story isn't what makes The Ambulance overall work, it's the characters, the dialogue, and the absurd situations. One particularly amusing moment is a fight between the ambulance attendents and a gang of thugs, with Roberts hilariously acting as a cheerleader while strapped to a stretcher. Another laugh-out loud scene features a desperately sick Roberts trying to hide from an approaching ambulance and shouting to his apartment neighbors to remember the attendents' faces, noting that they'll be witnesses.The performances are mostly all pretty top-notch for what's required here. Roberts is a lot of fun as the everyday Joe trying to get to the bottom of the situation, doing all this because of a beautiful woman (the resolution of which is quite satisfying and hilarious). Watching roles like this always make me wonder how he never made the transition to Hollywood star, he's got the charisma and acting ability for it. Megan Gallagher gets in some good scenes as a tough cop who happens to believe Baker. Red Buttons as a journalist and James Earl Jones as a hard-boiled lieutenant steal a good bit of the scenes they're in, the latter doing so with his obsessive gum-chewing and sarcastic tone. Soap star Eric Braeden doesn't really get to do much, and from what I've seen here, he pretty much acts the same in everything he's in. Entertaining as the film often is, The Ambulance isn't without its flaws and dead spots. Some scenes drag on way too long without enough laughs, specifically Roberts' little stay at the hospital, and some aspects of the movie are just too silly. For instance, the interior of the ambulance somehow has this green glow emanating from it, more like something you'd see in The Tommyknockers or the power plant in The Simpsons. That same glow is present in the villains' hideout, and yes, it still feels out of place there, too. There are a few attempts at thrills, but the chase scenes don't really generate all that much excitement, mainly because the otherwise goofy tone waters these moments down. The lines spoken immediately after the final chase, however, are good for a laugh. Plot holes are also very prevalent, as no explanation is really given for why the woman (and later Roberts himself) gets sick all of a sudden. And while we do get clarity and a resolution with the woman Roberts is searching for, we never really learn the fate of one specific minor character that was also abducted by the ambulance.Flaws aside, I suppose I'd recommend The Ambulance, given that you go in expecting a comically-oriented thriller, a subgenre that's almost non-existent these days (unless you count Conspiracy Theory, which coincidentally, starred Roberts' sister, Julia). It's rarely dull, and I suspect the next time you see an ambulance, you'll probably have a hard time holding back a giggling fit.