HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE (Ron Shelton, 2003)

Reviewed: June 10th, 2003

Let it never be said Ron Shelton is a quitter: After devoting over a decade of his career entirely to Sports Movies, he has now turned his undivided attention to L.A. Cop Flicks. Hollywood Homicide marks his second L.A. Cop Flick of 2003 -- following last winter's very enjoyable if ultimately simplistic Dark Blue -- and the first half of Shelton's newest had me convinced I might be witness to something pretty unique, maybe even something special. At its strongest, Hollywood Homicide is an affectionate, channeling-Elmore Leonard ode to its titular town, part parody, part buddy movie, with a spring in its step and a broad smile on its face. Unfortunately it's also bogged down by a plot we don't particularly give a shit about, some sloppy ideas, some kinda lame dialogue (surprising, since it was co-written by Shelton himself) and goes on and on at ~two hours (usually a bad sign when a movie's end credits start rolling and the film just keeps playing oblivious to their existence; in this case the film's length is so excessive the theater lights literally came on while scenes were still running); particularly the last twenty minutes or so are an interminable chase (I know I had the same complaint viz. The Italian Job; for the most part, fuck chases in my opinion) that had me itching for the aisle.

So I can't quite recommend Hollywood Homicide, but nor am I convinced it doesn't have some riches to offer. One of Shelton's potent strengths is taking many of our most talented over-40 Movie Stars and reminding us why they became Movie Stars in the first place (also ironic that for all of Shelton's facility with male stars, his last few movies have demonstrated zero adeptness for female casting; must he employ wife Lolita Davidovich in all his films? And Lena Olin? Lena Olin?!?!): I'm thinking Costner in Tin Cup, Russell in Dark Blue and now Harrison Ford, who -- with perhaps the unnotable exception of Six Days Seven Nights -- has been trapped inside Stick-Up-His-Ass Roles for almost fifteen years. It's a mighty pleasure to see this magnetic dude finally relaxed, carefree, ready to party. I now realize that's primarily how Shelton draws the best outta these paid-to-the-stratosphere actors: He loosens 'em up, asks them to stop taking themselves so fucking seriously, a quality Hollywood Homicide thankfully shares (and thus why I'm willing to overlook utter absurdities like the fact twenty-four year old Josh Hartnett is cast as a freakin' detective). Like I said, Hollywood Homicide is affectionate, but it still ribs the town it loves; it can be viewed as a sorta lighthearted extension of Dark Blue's bleakish vision of corruption, with the police here depicted as bumbling, uninterested-in-actually-being-a-cop buffoons (Ford moonlights as a real estate broker; Hartnett wants to quit the force to become an actor). Adult comedies are among the rarest (and most valuable) commodities in the real-life Hollywood-- despite my misgivings, I thank Shelton for doing his best at frequently churning 'em out.

Return home.