Review: Hollywood Homicide (2003)

"Hollywood Homicide" – Just Shoot Me
by Homer Yen
(c) 2003

Do actors like veteran Harrison Ford and hunky
Josh Hartnett have enough star power to lure the
moviegoing masses to a lighthearted buddy-comedy
about cops, Hollywood, and murder? When it
comes to a marginal film like this, probably not.
This is a film that you can pass on. But, their
inclusion makes this film a bit more tempting to
see.

Harrison Ford possesses terrific effervescence
and seems so at ease up on the big screen that he
proves that he is one of the most versatile
actors in the business today. He simultaneously
appears commanding as the detective at work on a
murder case and as a dealmaker trying to ensure a
tidy profit for himself. Josh Hartnett has that
old-boy charm and good screen presence. With his
syrupy drawl, good looks, and his sincere
demeanor, he seems destined to be a major player
in romantic comedies.

"Hollywood Homicide" centers on two cops who are
good at what they do, but would rather be in
different careers. One is Joe Gavilan (Ford) who
is a veteran detective that is so methodical and
precise that his skills would be better suited
to, for example, contract write-ups. His
sometimes careless but well-meaning partner is
K.C. Calden (Hartnett). He joined the force to
continue his Dad's legacy. However, he is
distracted by other pursuits. Gavilan is keen on
making his millions through the sale of real
estate. Calden's financial future seems to lie
in an acting career. Yoga instruction may be
another option, as it certainly expands his
legion of female fans.

Both of them talk quite a bit about their desire
to excel at their side jobs, and it is the
frequent dialogue exchange that provides the only
pleasure of this film. As such, this is not the
standard buddy-cop film. There is more character
development than usual and there is a strange
amount of urgency that they have towards their
side occupations.

The major problem with the film is that there
isn't any real hook to draw us into the picture.
There is the premise of a murder case that is
peppered with crooked executives, desperate
thugs, and double-crosses. But, our two
detectives seem very nonchalant about solving
their case. They are both good at navigating the
environment of mistrust towards cops and are good
at exploiting their connections to garner needed
information. But because Gavilan would rather
sell that home atop an LA hillside and Calden
would rather belch out lines from a "Streetcar
Named Desire," we're not really interested in the
murder case either.

In fact, the progression of this aspect is so
pedantic that all the film can do is to have the
prime suspect lead the cops on a 20-minute chase
that is way too long and wholly unnecessary. You
can kind of tell that the film isn't really
trying to be inventive because the villain
eventually traps himself with no means of escape.
As for all those other characters that appear
here and there, you find yourself quickly
forgetting everything and eventually have to
wonder who actually did what and what was the
motivation behind those actions.

The end result is an action film that has very
little action and a buddy film that should have
been more fun to watch. Summer movies are more
than just fine dialogue, and thus have a certain
expectation going in. Alas, the effort that you
put forth to watch this will be more than this
film deserves.

Grade: C
S: 1 out of 3
L: 2 out of 3
V: 2 out of 3

==========
X-RAMR-ID: 35127
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1168121
X-RT-TitleID: 1123206
X-RT-AuthorID: 1370
X-RT-RatingText: C