Could Have Been Career Homicide
Detective Joe Gavilan (Harrison Ford) has been on the force for a long time, he also has three wives and that means lots of alimony payments which is why he moonlights as a realtor, always looking for an opportunity to make that big sale which will set him up for life. He is also carrying on with Ruby (Lena Olin) a radio shrink who just happens to be the ex wife of Lt. Bennie Macko (Bruce Greenwood) who as Internal Affairs and who has it in for Joe. Then there is his partner detective K.C. Calden (Josh Hartnett) who is a lousy shot, doubts he wants to be a cop, does yoga and carries a copy of "A Streetcar Named Desire" around with him as what he thinks he wants is to be an actor. But in between their personal affairs they are investigating a murder at a dance club which with only a few clues leads them to music mogul Sartain (Isaiah Washington).
"Lethal Weapon", "Beverly Hills Cop", "48 Hours" these are just three cop movies which work on the unlikely partnership set up and each of them worked. "Hollywood Homicide" is another one of these movies but unlike those other movies I mentioned this one doesn't work. On paper "Hollywood Homicide" looks like it should; the veteran detective who is wheeling & dealing properties whilst in the middle of a crime scene with the novice who closes his eyes when ever he shoots and is in to new age stuff, but in real life it doesn't.
Now I know why "Hollywood Homicide" doesn't work and it is simply the fact we have a lot going on and none of it really connects. Take for example Gavilan and Calden, this supposedly odd couple partnership of the veteran and the novice, there is no real odd couple comedy or at least no where near enough. Instead what we have is plenty of focus on Gavilan doing his thing with the realtor business and money worries whilst we than have comedy surrounding the handsome Calden and all the young women who he knows. Focusing on the other stuff rather than the partnership is where it goes wrong.
But then there is the over stuffing with subplots; Internal Affairs, a vice racket, the murder, subplot surrounding ex cops and more. None of it really connects together with it all doing its own thing till finally it focuses on the actual crime story. The knock on effect of this is that whilst we have some famous names and faces none of the acting is that good with unsurprisingly everyone doing their own thing although Lou Diamond Phillips in drag as a prostitute grabs your attention for a few minutes.
What this all boils down to is that "Hollywood Homicide" just doesn't work and at almost two hours it becomes a tiring movie which drags on and maybe once every 10 minutes or so delivers something which makes you smile.
