Dog-detective buddy comedies were all the rage in 1989, and this one lost the race to the cineplexes by two months to K-9, starring James Belushi and a German shepherd. Turner and Hooch features the stronger box-office pairing of Tom Hanks and a mastiff, so perhaps that (and a kid-friendly summer release) is what made it more profitable despite fewer laughs and a strikingly downbeat ending. The gooey ropes of saliva that jiggle from Hooch's furry jowls may have unforeseen comic mileage, but Turner and Hooch is otherwise a pretty flat affair full of perfunctory details. That a dog could really help solve a crime is a conceit afforded the species since the days of Lassie, but the device still gets stretched. It's a better movie when concentrating on the unwitting damage visited upon Turner's apartment by such a large and slobbery canine unfamiliar with his surroundings. And darn it if it's not fun to watch that dog blithely gnawing on Turner's car headrest as if he were sinking his teeth into a side of beef. Hanks gets to unleash his winning frustration on a number of occasions, but the in-between scenes are slow, and the romance between Turner and a veterinarian (Mare Winningham) never registers as more than a distraction. Ultimately, the film succumbs to most of the stereotypes traditionally ascribed to dog movies -- in particular, that the gruff sweetness of the beast is meant to patch the narrative holes.