Collision Course (1992)

Starring two of the better denizens of the overpopulated talk-show world, these two releases are marginally rentable for chat-host groupies. Leno's barely seen 1989 feature, Collision Course, released on video in time for his May 25 Tonight Show debut, is an average buddy-cop adventure with a dose of Japan bashing. Leno is a natural as the streetwise hero, and he and costar Pat Morita manage a certain chemistry to compensate for the halfhearted action scenes. Meanwhile, the Dennis Miller tape, from a two-year-old HBO special, finds its star waxing topical in the manner of his old Saturday Night Live ''Weekend Update'' routines. Some of the jokes are clever, and the black-and-white cinematography is elegant, but the program has a limited shelf life: Riffs about a Romanian dictator who was killed in 1989 just don't carry much of a kick in 1992. Then again, neither tape is any worse than Arsenio in Coming to America. Both: C+

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