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Hollywood Homicide
Review by Jane Robertson (Jane's bio)
Directed by Ron Shelton
Written by Robert Souza & Ron Shelton
Harrison Ford . . . Joe Gavilan
Josh Hartnett . . . K. C. Calden
Lena Olin . . . Ruby
Bruce Greenwood . . . Bennie Macko
Isaiah Washington . . . Sartain
Lolita Davidovich . . . Cleo
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual situations, and language.
It's not exactly a unique plot—take a seasoned cop who's in hot water down at HQ, team him with a partner still wet behind the ears, and see what kind of splash they make chasing a crime that turns personal.
You've seen it a dozen times. Still, you've never seen it quite this way. Robert Souza (a real-life LAPD veteran) and Ron Shelton (Bull Durham, White Men Can't Jump) inject some hilarious new elements into their script, including as memorable a chase scene as you're ever likely to jounce along on.
Best of all, try to imagine Han Solo/Indiana Jones/Jack Ryan doing physical comedy—if you can. If you can't, you may want to catch Hollywood Homicide just to see Harrison Ford transformed.
Ford, of course, is the cop (Joe Gavilan) who's seen it all, and no wonder, with years on the force, three ex-wives, two kids, and a monstrosity of a house he needs to unload. Josh Hartnett (Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down) is the rookie (K. C. Calden) whose father—aw, you already guessed—was killed in the line of duty. Naturally enough, since he's a Hollywood cop, K. C. has acting dreams, but will audiences be as sickened by his interpretation of Tennessee Williams as he is by autopsies?
Together, this dysfunctional duo charges off to solve the murders of some rap artists. It takes them almost no time to pick up the scent, but will it cost them their lives? Even worse, perhaps, in their view, will it interfere with their other aspirations, one for the stage and the other for a big real estate deal?
They have help in creating chaos from Lena Olin (Gavilan's love interest), Bruce Greenwood (Gavilan's superior who has his own agenda), Isaiah Washington (head of the rap guys' record label), and Lolita Davidovich (a madam). Shelton, wielding his director's megaphone instead of his pen, somehow organizes this motley crew into a medley.
To add to the fun, throughout the movie familiar faces appear in unfamiliar settings. If you go, you'll want to watch for Eric Idle (the Monty Python series), Lou Diamond Phillips (Courage Under Fire), Gladys Knight (who has done a few minor movies but needs no identifier anyway), Dwight Yoakam (Panic Room, Sling Blade, and country hits galore), Keith David (Barbershop), Master P (Dark Blue), and Martin Landau (The Majestic and, of course, “Mission Impossible”).
It almost goes without saying that Hollywood Homicide suffers from the typical Hollywood disease of sex and violence. The sex is muted, and the violence is mainly wreaked on inanimate objects, but the film amply earned its PG-13 rating. The story could have worked perfectly well without our ever having seen anybody shot or any two bodies in bed together, but you know what Hollywood is thinking: The ones who don't eat this stuff up will get used to it. As usual, the ones who could do without this stuff are forced to choose—either we put up with it or we miss movies that are otherwise truly entertaining.
Copyright 2003, Jane Robertson. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.
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About Jane Robertson: A staff editor for the nature magazine Snowy Egret, Jane has written for various Midwestern periodicals and the Southern Baptist Convention's Ambassador Life. Her book about a Scottish immigrant, Hope Was Worth the Risk, was published in 1995. She contributed to the Dawkins Project's upcoming CeLEBRATIONS: Notes to My Grandfather.
E-mail Jane |
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