"POINT OF VIEW"


Hollywood Homicide
Starring Josh Hartnett and Harrison Ford
Written by Robert Souza & Ron Shelton and Directed by Ron Shelton


There is a scene in Hollywood Homicide where a gangster falls from the top of a tall building and lands into a large metal container labeled, “Hollywood Waste”. That container is definitely the place this movie should be in as well. It is definitely Hollywood and it is definitely a waste. A waste of time, talent, and money. True to its title -- this movie really is Hollywood Homicide.

Det. K.C. Calden and Sgt. Joe Gavilan, two buddy cops played by Josh Hartnett (Pearl Harbor) and Harrison Ford (Air Force One), try their best to live up to all the classic buddy-cop duos of the past, but fall shamefully on their pretty faces. Lethal Weapon, 48 Hours, and even Bad Boys all had wonderful duos, but then again they also had decent scripts as well. Written by Robert Souza (an ex-LAPD cop of 25 years turned screenwriter/producer) and by the director of this mess, Ron Shelton (White Men Can’t Jump) -- you would think that something fairly decent would come out of these two brains. But nope, the only thing this movie contains is a dire need for Shane Black (Lethal Weapon) to come along and slap everybody silly for trying to duplicate his genius. On paper, Hollywood Homicide actually sounds like it could have been a potential hit. It has all the right ingredients: big stars, a great premise filled with action and laughs, and even a director with a good track record (Shelton also directed hits like Bull Durham, White Men Can’t Jump, and Tin Cup). But as this movie proves, just because you have the right ingredients and formula for a hit movie, it doesn’t mean you will have a hit movie. Oh, how Hollywood producers would love to have that to be true.

Hollywood Homicide has two great leading men in Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett, but unfortunately the words coming out of their mouths are about as entertaining as playing video games with no screen. Two Hollywood Homicide cops investigate the murder of a rap group with events and characters based on real life situations regarding the whole east and west coast rap thing. That sounds pretty good doesn’t it? A cast with names such as Bruce Greenwood, Isaiah Washington, Master P, Lou Diamond Phillips -- that sounds pretty good also, doesn’t it? The two main characters are even a little quirky with Hartnett’s character wanting to be an actor instead of a cop and Harrison Ford’s character being a cop and a real estate broker on the side. Pretty cool? Yeah, you would think so -- but again, no! It is not good. Now, I have been pretty harsh on the writer and director of this mess of a movie, but I guess I should also rag on the cast a bit as well. The cast of Hollywood Homicide should all be in a commercial for sleeping pills rather than in an action/comedy, since it appears that they are all aimlessly daydreaming through the movie. You can practically hear them thinking in their heads, “The paycheck is in the mail...”.

This movie hurts. And it hurts talking about this movie. I usually write reviews that are approximately 800 words long, but I am sorry, I just can’t talk about this movie anymore. In closing, the most important words regarding this movie would be: Don’t watch it.


THE RUNDOWN:

The Good: The movie does end after a long and tedious 116 minutes.

The Bad: Too many things to mention with only 24 hours in a day.

The Law: Stay as far away as you can from this movie.