Justice for Jenny

Where is Axel Foley's Old Friend, Jenny from the Block?

I loved the new Beverly Hills Cop movie, Axel F but I have one BIG QUESTION.

Where the hell is JENNY?!

You might be wondering, Who’s Jenny?

Let me set the stage, in Beverly Hills Cop (1984) Axel Foley is a cop who lives in Detroit. He’s had a somewhat checkered past but now is on the right side of the law. When his old friend and Ex-Con, Mikey comes to visit him in Detroit, he tells Axel that Jenny Summers, their old friend from the neighborhood, got him a job, Axel’s eyes light up, “Jenny Summers, I haven’t seen her in years. What is she up too?” Clearly an old friend.

When Mikey is killed, Axel goes to Beverly Hills and visits Jenny to get more info on what she knows. They immediately embrace and start joking around like old times. Long story short, Axel finds out, Jenny’s boss, Victor Maitland had Mikey killed. Along the way, Victor kidnaps Jenny, shoots Axel and is subsequently murdered in a shoot out with Axel and friends the titular Beverly Hills Cops (Rosewood, Taggart and Bogomil).

We are left thinking not only has Axel made friends in the BH PD but he finally re-connected with his old childhood friend, Jenny. Plus Jenny and Rosewood & Taggart all live in Beverly Hills. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship for everyone involved, or so we think.

In Beverly Hills Cop 2 (1987), Axel heads back to Beverly Hills reconnects with his buddies but never checks in on Jenny. As a matter of fact, Jenny is replaced with a “Bobo Jenny”, Jan, who isn’t half as cool or interesting as Jenny. Granted Jan is Bogomil’s daughter and her father was shot so she’s an organic part of the story but at the same time, Jenny is in the art world, Axel could use her connections to get access to Maxwell Dent or even crash at her place. But he doesn’t.

But to make matters worse, we also find that Axel now hangs with his Beverly Hills Cop friends for a yearly vacation.

WTF! No Jenny? Benefit of the doubt, maybe it’s a guy’s trip BUT I’m now it feels like what’s up with Axel and Jenny?

Isn’t she owed a tossed off line explaining where she is? This isn’t James Bond, this isn’t a woman that he just met that he will have a short lived fling with, this is an old friend (not a love interest). Plus she’s smart and funny. She holds her own with Axel and the rest of the team and they are bonded by the same set of circumstances.

Maybe it’s Axel’s fault, part of the plot of AXEL F is how Axel lost touch with his daughter, Jane. (Obviously Axel has a thing for “J” women Jenny, Jan, Jane) But this is what gets me.

In 1984 Axel bumped into Serge at Jenny’s art gallery. Serge seemed to be a salesman? Definitely in a lower position than Jenny (who was a buyer?)

Axel and Serge

Point is, Serge is just a damn stranger. Then, and I hate to even mention this, in Beverly Hills Cop 3 (BLECH) Axel meets Serge again, 10 years later and asks, “What happened to the Art Gallery?”

WHAT?!!!

This means Axel hasn’t spoken to Jenny in a decade, he must have immediately lost touch with her, like right after the direct aftermath of killing her boss. That’s a bad friend. But yet, he’s not super forgetful, clearly the gallery is on his mind.

Serge informs Axel the art gallery went bankrupt! Axel asks no follow ups. Serge doesn’t even mention Jenny. So all we know is that Jenny immediately after BHC lost her job. Is she homeless, did she move back to Detroit?

Again give me a line, something simple like, “Oh she’s married to so and so and is living in X.”

They did it for Taggart to explain why he wasn’t in BHC 3? They said he retired. While I was bummed, it made sense and I wasn’t left guessing.

Cut to 2024 in Axel F and now we find out that Serge is Axel’s friend and he knows Axel’s daughter.

SERIOUSLY WTF?!!

“Remember me?”

By the timeline of BHC4, Jane would have been like 8 years old when Axel got reacquainted with Serge in 1994, so now we are left to believe that Axel found a way to keep in touch with Serge after a chance meeting at a Beverly Hills party and even introduced him to his daughter another time they were in LA.

So this destroys my whole theory, Axel is a good friend. He keeps up with new friends, goes on trips with them. Bring his family around to met them.

But you gotta think does Jane ever ask her Dad, “How did you meet Serge, he seems very different from the cops you hang out with?”

Axel: Oh he worked at Jenny’s gallery.

Jane: Who’s Jenny?

Awkward beat.

Axel: (Under his breath) Don’t worry about it.

Why are we allowing this Jenny erasure?

Obviously I get it, she’s not needed in the other films but why doesn’t this woman get a line to justify her existence off camera. We see multiple people h’es friends with in Detroit and the entire opening of Axel F shows how Foley keeps tabs on EVERYONE!

Something doesn’t add up?

And don’t get me started on Bogomil and Jan. Axel flew to Bogomil’s bedside when he was wounded and knew his daughter well. But no one mentions him either. Ronny Cox is still alive. Can’t he get a cameo? Or a line? He should be mayor.

In a world full of callbacks. Why can’t we just tag these crucial members with a little where are they now. Cause if Gilbert Gottfried was still alive you know Sydney Bernstein would have been in this film as well.

All I want is the knowledge that Jenny, Jan, Jane should be casual friends and get together once a year for a nice brunch. Like a nicer version of the Claire dinner scene in Scrooged.

But besides this, I love Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F and here is an amazing Retro

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