Judge Reinhold and the cast of ‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F’ simply wanted to bring its viewers “some good laughs”.
The 67-year-old actor – born Edward Ernest Reinhold Jr, and who was given his ‘Judge’ nickname by his parents due to the stern expression he wore as a child – reprises his role as straight-laced investigator Billy Rosewood in the ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ reboot.
He told The Independent about wanting to use the film – which is streaming now on Netflix – to inject a bit of humour into dark times: “In talking about the world at large and everything, we just want to bring some good laughs. We did talk about that. “People have an affection for (‘Beverly Hills Cop’) and we want to meet that affection, and just bring some laughter to a very harsh time. You know?”
The reboot also sees Eddie Murphy, 63, return as maverick cop Axel Foley and John Ashton, 76, as veteran officer John Taggart, and together with Judge they tackle a gang of corrupt police in Beverly Hills after they threaten Axel’s lawyer daughter, played by 33-year-old Taylour Paige.
Despite his drive to use the movie to get laughs from audiences, Judge added the film had a serious side.
He added: “This movie deals with corruption and saving the day. And taking back what’s lost by greed. We’re really fighting greed – I don’t want to get too deep – but I think that’s what the whole world is fighting. Really.
“I think of greed as a mental health condition just like addiction to gambling or addiction to alcohol – greed is something the world is fighting.
“I don’t like when actors go off, but it is pertinent to what we’re talking about. “Because Eddie comes up against this greedy power, you know, and that’s the fight.
“That’s the great fight of our times that we all have to fight. And then I’ll shut up about this, but we all have to take it on.
“We’re all victims of people caring more about shareholder value than human value. That’s the big fight. And yeah, so, indirectly, we’re dealing with that.”
