Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (15A) finds Detroit’s notoriously anarchic cop soaking up the Californian sunshine once more, as Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) jets in to Los Angeles to help his old buddy Billy (Judge Reinhold) investigate a corrupt cop (Kevin Bacon), while seeking to rehabilitate his relationship with his estranged daughter Jane (Taylour Paige), aided and abetted by Jane’s old flame, Detective Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).

The cinematic equivalent of a greatest-hits tour (they even re-purposed many of the tunes from the earlier movies) that proves Murphy has lost none of his brash charm, Axel F is at its best when celebrating Axel’s cheesy chutzpah as he inveigles himself into a variety of compromising positions.

The story itself is a well-worn retread of past glories, but this bumbles along delightfully via car-chases, helicopter hi-jinks, and even a sequence involving a runaway snowplough.

It wallows a little in nostalgia, certainly, and it lacks the realism we expect from our cop thrillers these days, but Axel F is old-fashioned dumb fun that simply wants to paste a smile on your face.