Hollywood Homicide

6/08/03 - Review

After a high profile, gang style murder, Hollywood’s only hope in cracking the case is veteran Detective Joe Gavilan (Harrison Ford), and his new young partner, K.C. Calden (Josh Hartnett).   The murder ends up being a quadruple homicide of a fresh new rap band under the label of big time music producer, Antoine Sartain.  He is one that decides whether your band makes it in music.   

As the two put the pieces together they continuously take time out for their “other jobs.”  Gavilan also owns a real estate business on the side where he has $675,000 tied up on a house that no one wants to buy.  Add the fact that he has never sold a house only puts more and more pressure on him.  K.C. is contemplating whether or not to be a cop.  He is an aspiring actor who is practicing for a showcase to show off his talents to some Hollywood brass.  He also manages time to instruct yoga to 30 beautiful girls, which Gavilan becomes respectful of. 

Meanwhile, back on the case, Gavilan and Calden get pushed backwards by an Internal Affairs investigation against them led by Gavilan’s long time nemesis, Bennie Macko.  Apparently, Gavilan is under surveillance for breaking departmental procedures for citizen informants and some shady money dealings.  But, that is before Macko finds out that Gavilan is sleeping with his ex-girlfriend.  Yeah, its one big triangle. 

Calden and Gavilan try to block all these out as they catch the man that killed the four rappers.  The investigation points to one man, Sartain.  But before they can get him, they have to find him and at the same time avoid Macko.  Plus, Gavilan is desperate to sell his first house, even if it means using his detective hours to do it.    

Hollywood Homicide is yet another offering in the long line of buddy cop movies.  Much like the other ones, the movie hides its seriousness with plentiful doses of humor and gimmicks. 

The pace of the movie is unbelievably slow and boring as we follow the two detectives on their case.  The best parts of the movie were the small stories such as K.C.’s desire to be an actor or Gavilan’s painstaking efforts to sell his first house.  Even the Macko-Gavilan story was fairly interesting.  They got about half as much time as the main story of the quadruple homicide.  The case was the meat of the movie but it ends up being the downfall of the movie.   Most of the humor was very dry and off-beat, but there were some good moments.

Without Hartnett and Ford, this movie would have been a bomb, but because they are there it is at least bearable.  Harrison Ford is one of the premiere actors of our time.  Team him up with an up and coming actor and you can have movie magic.  Team them as cops and you have created a buddy comedy.  It has been done to death but at least we get some good talent.   Hartnett and Ford were one of the very small bright spots in this movie.  I can’t stress enough about Hollywood wasting talent.  I guess it doesn’t matter though because Harrison Ford has a good draw whether the movie is good or bad. 

I saw this movie a week in advance during a sneak preview.  Now that I have seen it, I can tell you that the movie is average at best, because of the performances of Ford and Hartnett, but don’t expect anything else.  The movie has its moments but in the end it’s a big yawner.    

Grade

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