Bird on a Wire

"Bird on a Wire" is your basic by-the-numbers chase-farce, which begins with evil David Carradine getting out of prison after 15 years and reteaming with even more evil Bill Duke.

Cut to high-rolling lawyer Goldie Hawn, who heads to Detroit for a business trip. There she takes her rental car to a gas station, and who should she run into but old boyfriend Mel Gibson.

It seems they were hippie lovers 15 years earlier and planned to wed, but Gibson was supposedly killed in a plane crash. In reality, he became involved in a drug deal gone awry and testified against Carradine and Duke. Now he's in the federal witness-protection program.

Naturally, with the help of a corrupt FBI official, Carradine and Duke track down Gibson and try to kill him. Just as naturally, Hawn helps Gibson escape and they renew their romance on the road, ultimately having a showdown with the bad guys in a prolonged climactic shootout in a zoo.

There are some clever touches and a few funny gags here and there, but for the most part you've seen all this before. Many times.

If you're a die-hard Gibson and/or Hawn fan, you'll get some enjoyment out of it, but "Bird on a Wire" relies too heavily on its stars' charisma when it should provide them with better material. (This is also a real comedown for the usually reliable director John Badham, whose previous films include "Stakeout," "WarGames" and "Blue Thunder.")

"Bird on a Wire" is rated PG-13 for considerable mayhem, as well as sex, profanity and some nudity.