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San Francisco hostage negotiator Scott Roper (Eddie Murphy) gets on the wrong side of psycho jewel thief Michael Korda (Michael Wincott), and now it's personal.... This tedious cop picture casts Murphy in Wiseacre Action Guy mode (a la the far superior 48 HRS) and pits him against a sociopath of such surpassing viciousness that even the most mild-mannered viewer can't help but cheer when the creep finally gets what's coming to him. To call the picture formulaic is to miss the point: It's so openly contemptuous of its audience that it doesn't even bother to run the formula. The buddy with "Dead Man Walking" written on his forehead (Art Evens) isn't around long enough for us to care when he gets killed. The putative love interest (Carmen Ejogo) who has to be won back from another man ditches the other guy the first time Roper drops by. Roper's obligatory character flaw -- he gambles compulsively -- neither causes him undue trouble nor is overcome at the end. The callow new partner (Michael Rapaport) is with the program from the start. Even the title is meaningless. For die-hard Murphy fans only.