Showdown in Manila

If "The Room" impresario Tommy Wiseau had been given the opportunity to make an action film, the result would still have been more entertaining than the egregiously nonsensical and amateurish "Showdown in Manila."

A mishmash of action movie and buddy cop clichs rendered in incompetent fashion, this wink-wink homage to 1991's Showdown in Little Tokyo makes its inspiration seem like a classic.

Pedestrian (at best) in content and execution, including listless, sometimes inept staging of key action elements.

[It] isn't entirely devoid of fun action or interesting ideas, but the execution is so scattershot that there's no way to recommend the movie.

It's certainly wonderful to see these stars show up and be treated with reverence, but the best way to honor them would have been to design a real killer set piece that gave each of them a chance to highlight their skills.

For those who can endure the feature's considerable shortcomings and tone-deaf creative choices, this might be the next "The Room" for action cinema fans.