You know the one about opposites having something to learn from each other and forging the unlikeliest of friendships. Beaches somehow made it work; now writer Bo Goldman and director Martin Brest show us how to go right over the top with the idea. Chris O'Donnell (not half firm enough) is a 17-year-old prep student saddled for the weekend with irascible, unreasonable, unmanageable, blind retired Lt Col Slade (a notably mannered performance from Al Pacino which took an Oscar). The kid finds himself whisked off to New York, where the colonel has in mind spending his disability pensions on one hell of a time, followed by blowing his brains out. The adventures of this unlikely if somewhat unloveable couple have a certain charm, and sequences involving a dance and a madcap car drive work winningly. But it's 90 minutes' worth spread out to more than 150. The climax piles our disbelief into a sandwich of sentiment, and opportunities for meaningful dialogue between the two protagonists are all wasted.