Rolling Stone:

It’s a team-up that nearly didn’t happen. The movie gives disgraced ex-cop Jack has five days to bring the Duke from New York to LA to collect a big reward that will allow him to open up a coffee shop, while the Mob accountant tries to avoid being murdered in prison by drug dealer Jimmy Serrano (Dennis Farina, in the best performance of his career), from whom he stole $15 million to give to charity. De Niro, who had been looking to do a comedy after a 15-year run as Hollywood’s most intense method actor, only took the role as a consolation prize when he lost out to Tom Hanks for the lead in Big.

Paramount was originally set to make it as director Martin Brest’s big follow-up to Beverly Hills Cop. But the studio wanted to tweak George Gallo’s script to make the Duke a woman (the Duchess?) played by Cher, hoping to generate some sexual tension. Brest said no to that, and to having Robin Williams play the part, because he’d been so dazzled by Grodin’s audition opposite De Niro. At that point, Paramount abandoned the project altogether and it wound up at Universal, whose executives approved the unconventional casting.

My Australian wife had never seen this movie (as the story notes, it bombed at the box office) so we watched it a few weeks ago and she nearly wet herself laughing. De Niro is utterly brilliant in this comedic role (as is the sadly late Dennis Farina) and Grodin is wonderfully neurotic and annoying.