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Harrison Ford has already played his share of cops, but Hollywood Homicide's Joe Gavilan is different. His beat is, presumably, one of the most glamorous in the nation, but he's more interested in his side job, a foundering real-estate business. To him there's no such thing as an inappropriate time to pitch potential customers; he even offers a house to the owner of a nightclub where four rappers have just been killed. Further complicating Joe's life is his new partner, young K. C. Calden (Josh Hartnett), who'd rather be an actor than a cop. And then there's his mistress, Ruby the psychic (Lena Olin), whose disregard of Joe's official standing borders on the comical. Gavilan, in short, is the perfect character for an aging action hero to play, and Ford makes this world-weary detective nearly as eccentric as everybody else in writer-director Ron Shelton's comedy-thriller. Shelton, who gave us Bull Durham and White Men Can't Jump, is a past master of the lengthy dialogue exchange between two men, and he peppers Homicide with wryly humorous scenes in which Ford and Hartnett play off each other nicely. The supporting cast is pretty nifty, too: standouts include Keith David as Ford's perpetually exasperated superior officer, Bruce Greenwood as an Internal Affairs investigator determined to take Gavilan’s badge, and Lolita Davidovich as a spunky hooker with the unlikely name of Ferre Salesclerk. The movie is studded with cameos, and if you don't blink you can spot such popular performers as Robert Wagner, Frank Sinatra Jr., Dr. Dre, Lou Diamond Phillips, Dwight Yoakam, Eric Idle, and Isaiah Washington. Shelton effectively lampoons Hollywood from top to bottom; he recognizes the sleaze that lies beneath the thin veneer of glamour, as well as the quiet desperation that Tinseltown denizens conceal more skillfully than anybody else in the country. The action set pieces are plentiful, and in some respects Hollywood Homicide resembles every other "buddy" movie. But Shelton was obviously interested in breathing new life into this subgenre, and in our view he succeeds admirably. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Further cementing 2003 as the year of Ron Shelton cop movies, the director continued his vacation from the sports genre with Hollywood Homicide, a police comedy that comes right on the heels of Shelton's Dark Blue, a decidedly grittier cop thriller. The film stars Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett as LAPD homicide detectives Joe Gavilan and K.C. Calden, two cops with bigger dreams. Gavilan moonlights as a real estate agent, while Calden teaches yoga and yearns for a career on the big screen. When an entire hip-hop group is murdered on-stage, Gavilan and Calden are called in to handle the case. As their investigation progresses, they begin to suspect that the rappers were offed for attempting to get out of their recording contract with label head Sartain (Isaiah Washington). Along with Bruce Greenwood and Keith David, the supporting cast boasts a plethora of real-life musicians, including Dr. Dre, Gladys Knight, Dwight Yoakam, Master P, and Ronald DeVoe of New Edition and Bell Biv DeVoe. Matthew Tobey

New York Times

There are too many deft grace notes and underplayed jokes to take in at a single viewing. A.O. Scott

San Francisco Chronicle

It's a movie an audience can settle comfortably into, and it pays off as it goes along. Mick LaSalle

Product Details

• UPC: 043396009271
• Source: SONY PICTURES
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital
• Editions: Subtitled, Dubbed
• Time: 1:56:00
• Sales Rank: 2,066

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