Columbia Pictures

Tweaking the buddy-cop genre via a film about a couple of security guards who stumble onto a corrupt operation that thrives because the perpetrators are counting on said security guards to be too dumb/inept to sniff out their poorly masked malfeasance was actually a great idea. Had it come together as intended, the movie would've starred Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi and been directed by Harold Ramis. When Belushi died, Candy took his role. John Carpenter suddenly became attached to direct. It was a go picture. Then Aykroyd and Carpenter bolted.

In 1986, Candy told the Los Angeles Times, "When they dropped out, I was left with a contract and no movie. So [Eugene Levy] came in, took my role, and I took Dan's spot." This might've been a mistake. Candy is more than up to the task of playing an overly aggressive ex-cop whose spot-on instincts prove to be disruptive for his corrupt employers, but he's a little too reined in. Meanwhile, Levy's role was rewritten to make him the brainy partner. Ultimately, they're both buffoons, and this broadness clashes with the very '80s action aesthetic (orchestrated by Mark L. Lester just one year after he delivered the meathead classic "Commando").

"Armed and Dangerous" shared its opening weekend with the debut of David Cronenberg's "The Fly," which proved to be a critical and commercial sensation. Though Candy and Levy are good for some big laughs (Candy hitching a wild ride with a redneck trucker played by Steve Railsback is a highlight), the movie never takes off. Even the presence of a flirting-with-stardom Meg Ryan can't quicken the film's pulse.

But 39 years after "Armed and Dangerous" hit theaters, according to FlixPatrol, it's currently the second most-watched film on Tubi. It's the ideal movie for the streamer. You can sit back, enjoy a substance of your choosing, suffer the ad breaks, and feel adequately entertained. There are worse ways to burn a couple of hours.