Axel F's millennial parental apology fantasy

A few thoughts after watching the new Beverly Hills Cop movie

Axel F from IMDb

My father took me to see Beverly Hills Cop when it came out in 1984. I was seven. The movie has nudity, violence, and foul language. A lot of foul language. I loved every minute of Beverly Hills Cop, and I still do. It’s the film that started my love affair with crime comedies. There’s nothing better than a hero who throws punches and punchlines.

When Mom found out that Dad took their seven-year-old child to see Beverly Hills Cop, she shit a brick. It didn’t help that I declared the movie “fucking awesome.” With a straight face, Dad said, “Linda, I didn’t know that an Eddie Murphy movie would have so much cursing.” Dad was one hell of a liar.

The story about seeing Beverly Hills Cop has always been a popular anecdote in the Estrin household. It’s my go-to example of my father’s free-range parenting style and his belief that it’s better to beg forgiveness than ask for permission. Larry was a wonderful father, but he was also a character. Like Frank Sinatra, he did things his way.

Eddie Murphy’s Axel Foley also did things his way, but he was a shitty father. Actually, let me back up. In the Beverly Hills Cop franchise, Axel Foley wasn’t a father at all. In the first two movies, Axel was single and ready to mingle. In the third movie, well, we don’t talk about the third movie. I forgot that hot mess, so I have no idea if Axel was a dad in that one. But in the fourth movie, Axel F, we see a very different Axel Foley. We see him as a father.

This time around, Axel’s case has a real personal complication. His daughter is an attorney, and she’s representing someone accused of killing a cop. That’s a classic trope in the crime genre. The detective’s spouse / kid / parent / best friend / father’s nephew’s former roommate isn’t just on the other side of a case, their mission is antithetical to the hero’s raison d’etre. That’s a good way to create drama, folks!

But the tension between a cop and a daughter who represents accused criminals is the surface drama in Axel F. The real drama is generational. Axel Foley was a shitty dad who wasn’t there for his daughter, Jane.

Enter the millennial parental apology fantasy. In a piece at Vox about Everything Everywhere All At Once, Emily St. James wrote about “suddenly popular” sub-genre:

Instead of telling the time-honored story of a child learning just how much their parent has sacrificed for them, these stories tell its mirror image. Instead, they are stories where the parent has to realize how badly they’ve treated their child. The ability to heal intergenerational trauma lies at least in part with that parent, and as the film wraps up, they take real steps to doing so, usually as the child realizes that the trauma did not originate with their parent but much further up the family tree. Better able to understand each other, the parent and child end the film with a better relationship.

When Christina and I fired up Netflix to watch Axel F, we weren’t expecting a the millennial parental apology fantasy. We expected — and got — what you always expect from a sequel: the hits! And Axel F does play the hits, including a kickass chase scene set to the Neutron Dance by The Pointer Sisters, the fish out of water shenanigans of a Detroit cop in Beverly Hills, and the incredibly satisfying trio of Foley, Taggart (now the chief of the Beverly Hills PD), and Rosewood (now a PI). But Axel F is also more than the sum of those parts.

Throughout the film, I was struck by the scenes between Foley and his daughter. Murphy could’ve played Axel as a sweet, well-meaning dad who jokes and charms his way back into his daughter’s life. Instead, we get something closer to reality, something that feels like the genuine struggles of Boomers and millennials — two generations divided by a common trauma. Axel’s relationship with his daughter is raw and imperfect. It’s what makes Axel F the sequel we needed, if we didn’t know we wanted it.

I write about the crime genre AND I write crime comedies. My slacker noir novel is about a snarky reporter who risks life, limb, and dignity to solve a murder in Porn Valley. It’s more Fletch than Foley, but it’s a damn good ride. Pick up a copy of Not Safe for Work on Amazon, or all the other book places.

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I want to know what you think!

1. Are you a Beverly Hills Cop fan, or do you hate fun?

2. Have you seen Axel F yet? Thoughts?

3. We can all agree to forget about the third Beverly Hills Cop movie, right?