User reviews

Anyone who has seen this movie and commented on it as a serious action film should be shot.

From the very start it is fairly obvious it crosses the cheese line into a parody. From the totally pointless/unrelated cheesy opening scene of HF on a shooting range, the lake chase scene, the whole buddy buddy chemistry (or total deliberate lack thereof) to the non stop annoying phone ringing or maybe the complete lack of an interesting plot? Some of these should have given away to most people the real intentions of this film.

The 'love' scene with Harrison Ford should be the last clue to anyone blind enough, that this is really not to be taken seriously and can be considered made specially for Mystery Science Theatre.

The film is called 'Hollywood Homicide', I believe, so titled as to ruffle some Hollywood feathers with the notion that Hollywood has been killed by the never ending rain of terrible buddy cop movies. The real joke is that some suit somewhere probably OK'd this as a real action movie.

In fact, the funniest thing is that some people took it seriously and enjoyed it as a serious action movie.

The chases are deliberately over the top lame (I mean really, really bad), the dialogue is so silly and pointless it just makes you laugh, the character development is totally non-existant, the cliches flow non-stop, the whole side plot of internal affairs is placed there because it's in every buddy cop movie, etc, etc. How anyone took this movie as a serious action film is beyond me.

I give it 6/10 because, it's hilarious in places (in a MST kind of way), I agree with their intentions (THE COP FILMS MUST END!!!). Just please, don't take it anything more than a parody.

Taking another chance on L.A, on the streets and more specifically on the police, as in "Dark Blue", Ron Shelton, a man of multiple themes, brings a new project to the table, which is called "Hollywood Homicide". The difference between this one and the latter one is that this is Hollywood, precisely. And when the beginning credits roll, and we're shown fifty "Hollywood" signs; it's obvious that they want us to realize that. Why would it be?

The story about Ron Shelton meeting Robert Souza in the set of "Dark Blue" and them both getting together to write the script of "Hollywood Homicide", because Souza had been a cop before…Interesting. However, in the same vein, "Dark Blue" is the portrait of a cruel reality; "Hollywood Homicide" is the satire of a shallow but real reality in the end. It's Hollywood, and it was a good premise to put some fun in the crime scenes, probably to make it "more dramatic than anything seen in Hollywood".

The other elements the plot offers go from action to crime, or vice versa. They created the murderer of a rap band, so they could mess a little bit with the music business, too. There we see the producers, the groups, the "showbiz"…It's even related with theater and movies, because one of the main characters wants to be an actor; and in a decent comedic way, he's thinking about acting each time he's doing something; and he probably isn't that good.

I'm talking about K.C Calden; Josh Hartnett's character. He gives classes of movements to find the inner self. There, a lot of hot women assist and kiss him when they leave. In one scene, his partner tells him that he did for sex. "At first it was for sex, now it has become something spiritual", K.C answers, and at night, a hot woman is waiting for him in the "Jacuzzi". "How long has it been since the last time you got laid", K.C asks his partner. "It's not your business", the partner says. Then, he lets a man working as a prostitute into his car. When they discuss that, he says: "It was nothing, it was a man, a cop; a cop man".

This partner is Joe Gavilan, a pro in the police business played by a pro in the acting business. As he did with Kurt Russell in "Dark Blue", Shelton brings Harrison Ford back to the top of his game. With his character, based on writer Robert Souzas's own life, he has the best lines and he has a lot of fun. Antoine Sartain (Isaiah Washington) should be afraid of him; a man that has had sex, with Ruby (an over the top Lena Olin) and makes real estate business with producer Jerry Duran (the great Martin Landau) and Julius Armas (a correct Master P) while he's driving a car high speed. When he is told the composer of the rap group is still alive, he replies: "Somebody actually writes that s***?". He has had bad times, Bennie Macko (Bruce Greenwood) wants to get him, and in the best scene of the movie, he and K.C get interrogated. This scene is managed with camera changes between the two interrogating rooms, where in Joe's, his cell is always ringing; and in K.C's, he is "centering" himself spiritually. Joe's interrogator can't do anything, while K.C's interrogator (a woman) asks him to help her relax.

That scene stole the only laughs from me during the entire film. Keith David was also having fun in his Leo role, reprising some of the comic elements he gave to Lester Wallace in "Barbershop". More importantly, and if you were wondering, Shelton directs his actors perfectly, making a stupendous balance between the pro and the amateur, the old and the young; Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett. Their chemistry is perfect, and one of the few reasons to watch the movie. In the end, their characters are nothing else but cops, in a film that leaves a lot of plot situations unresolved, is a bit long, not funny enough, but different from the gross humor that everyone finds easy to put on paper.

No urban police department is free of episodic troubles but the LAPD has a case as chronic as smokers' cough. Good cops, bad cops and villains with SOCAL written all over their faces and inflected in every line.

But, hey, it's summer and Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett deliver some good laughs and a pretty hot high speed smash 'em up chase through Hollywood in this cop/buddies film.

The genre is pretty familiar to all. Very formulaic. You get a wiser older cop with flaws and/or attitude and a young acolyte with flaws and/or attitude. The novelty here is that while many cops moonlight to pay their bills, Ford's a detective who doesn't let hot police work interfere with his on and off real estate brokerage business. With incessant calls for his private business on a cell phone that rings with "My Girl," Ford delivers a good performance with wry humor and a surprising degree of athleticism (he's sixty but you'd never know it).

Josh Hartnett, as the very junior homicide investigator, also has a sideline, actually two. He earnestly pursues an acting career while running a meditation mill for lissome young lovelies who, predictably, fall into his arms and bed. But he's a good cop.

The actual homicide story is instantly familiar and its development devoid of surprises. So what? It's summer! I can't see art films EVERY day.

6/10. Can't give it more than that but it was entertaining for both me and my teenage son who especially appreciated the urban road rampage.

I've always been a fan of Harrison Ford and odds are I always will be, regardless of what comes out of his personal life now. Considering how Hollywood can screw a man up, Harrison still ranks as one of the few to have successfully held his head together. That and I usually find something entertaining his films. It's hard not to be entertained by him in the old Star Wars films, where he was hilarious as Han Solo, or to root/feel for him in the Indiana Jones trilogy and films like "Blade Runner", "Witness", the Jack Ryan films, "The Fugitive" and "Air Force One".

Thing is, "Witness" marked the turning point of Harrison's career in which he would mature into the modern day quiet, reluctant hero. Understandably, after playing this role again and again for about 20 years Ford would naturally want to go back to playing things a little funnier than he had previously been allowed. It's a bit of a shame that he picked such a weak script for a return to comedy. All in all, it's just an excuse to let Harrison reprise his Han Solo persona as an older man. But in the opinions of some, his age dried him out, preventing him from being as funny as he used to be.

This one tries very hard to be both apart OF the mismatched buddy cop genre AND to make fun of it. As a result, it never quite realizes it's potentially funny premise or even serve as usual time filler.

Ford plays Joe Gavilan, a cop working real estate on the side and Josh Hartnett is his younger partner KC Calden, who works a yoga class on the side, sleeps with his customers and is also an aspiring actor. They get assigned to solve the murder of an up and coming rap group and are repeatedly dogged by Bruce Greenwood as Ford's nemesis. The cliche of Josh's dad being a cop who got killed by way of his partner could have been left on the cutting room floor.

Ford and Josh do the young cop/old cop bit as well as anyone else, but Ford deserves a better than this, and after "Black Hawk Down" Josh should be more picky about his vehicles. The only real comic highlight is when they're being interrogated and are either mouthing off or playing quiet. This is the only gem in an otherwise dull film.

Here's hoping they both make better decisions in the future.

This movie is a lot of fun. Everyone seems to be doggin' this movie, but most negative critiques I've read sound like the person expected "Hollywood Homicide" to be bad. The movie has failings to be sure, but I laughed out loud many times and smiled throughout the whole film. All I wanted was to have a good time, and I did.

I saw an advanced screening of this movie today, and I have to say it was very entertaining. If you're going to see this movie then don't be in for a lot of thinking, just be in for some fun. There is some good action scenes, and seeing Harrison Ford do somethings against type is worth the price of admission alone.

Anyway, here's the basic plot, two cops played by Ford and Hartnett are assigned a rap murder case in Master P's club. They also have jobs on the side, Ford is a real-estate broker, and Hartnett is an actor/yoga instructor. These both play key roles in the movie, and add some of the comedic flavor. It was good to see Ford go back to having a personality, because it fits this movie. Overall I'd give the movie a 3.5 out of 5 scale, and definently recommend it, because its fun as hell!

Lame movie. Completely uninteresting. No chemistry at all between Indiana Jones and the guy from Black Hawk Down. The car chase scene just goes on and on and on ad nauseum. They manage to switch vehicles a few times, but always end up right on the tail of the baddies. The scene where Hartnett grabs the family's car with the crying kids in the back was just as stupid as could be. He is telling them about Eastern philosophy and how it is all right to die, which I imagine the writers thought was funny or even witty. It just came off as moronic, totally unbelievable and even cruel.

Some subplots weren't even explored, they were just used as filler. Why does Hartnett get sick seeing dead bodies yet keeps ordering burgers at crime scenes? Why, and on what grounds, is the bad IA guy suddenly arrested out of the blue by the chief? Why can IA pick up the buddy cops and then just let them answer their phones or pretend to be Indian mystics and then just let them waltz out of there without so much as a slap on the wrist? For some reason, even though Ford is uncovered as a cheat and a fraud when acting as a realtor, (he makes up the prices when he is trying to sell the producer's house to jack up his own commission), they keep coming back to him anyway! They knew he lied to both of them! Yet there they were, coming to terms that both said they would never go for. Stupid, just stupid. This is also one of those cop movies where they just fire wantonly on public streets with no care in the world for innocent bystanders. There they were, just standing on the sidewalk blasting away while people ducked for cover. Amazing that they didn't hit a single person after having fired about 60 rounds each....

The scriptwriting was terrible, the action sequences were boring, the plot just a sidestory to a very pathetic attempt to have us root for Ford and Hartnett. It fails miserably. And Ford's phone! Turn the damn thing off! How many times could it ring in a 2-hour movie? 50? 60? It was frustratingly aggravating by the midpoint in the movie! Every 30 seconds, that stupid tune would play! And if it wasn't Ford's, then Hartnett's was ringing! It was incredibly annoying!

Complete waste of time, Ford's worst movie since 6 Days 7 Nights, which was without a doubt, the lowest point of his distinguished career.

A friend of mine rented this movie and I was a little suspect. I remember never thinking much of it, and the horrible memory of Harrison Ford doing that hip-thrusting move in the commercial - noooooo!

But I will say that I was pleasantly surprised with this movie. It has some genuinely funny parts, and it was also interesting to see who was going to make the next cameo (my favorite being Dre 3000 and his movie "Nasty"). My liking of this movie probably has a lot to do with perception - expected crap, but turned out to be OK. I'll give it 7/10.

Hollywood Homicide is a mediocre movie with an average storyline that I felt had the opportunity of being very different but simply didn't and a cast that could have delivered more.The set up of a buddy cop comedy in LA with Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett easily could have worked but simply didn't,they completely lacked any necessary chemistry for their parts.I always love seeing Harrison Ford on screen,but was very disappointed by his performance in this,he simply couldn't do comedy,he delivered pretty much every line very poorly and I feel like he slowly lost more and more interest in his role throughout.There were certainly a handful of parts that made me laugh,but there wasn't enough and there was nothing aside from that,the action sequences are unimpressive,and we are never really given any reason to truly care for these characters.It has its moments,but Hollywood Homicide is mostly a poorly written and poorly acted comedy that I would not recommend.

Two detectives investigate the murder of a popular rap group.

Best Performance: Josh Hartnett Worst Performance: Lena Olin

Joe Gavilan (Harrison Ford) is a seasoned detective. K.C. Calden (Josh Hartnett) is his still wet behind the ears partner. Hollywood Homicide has them trying to balance the investigation of murders involving members of LA's rap industry with unusual extracurricular activities and concerns.

The most obvious aspects that make the film work so well are the extracurriculars. Without them, this might be seen as just another buddy-cop action/crime/drama--a good one at that, but nothing spectacular. But Hollywood Homicide is a comedy at heart. Gavilan's first concern upon arriving at any crime scene is that he gets some food, just the way he likes it. He's also a real estate agent. While conducting investigations, calls from buyers and sellers of homes always take precedence. Calden is also an aspiring actor, and he's quite a ladies' man. He even makes extra income by running a yoga class--with only women students--at $20 a head. Most of the students want to sleep with him, as do most other women he meets. They get away with it because Gavilan, at least, is also a great detective.

All of this material is very funny, but never in an over-the-top way. In fact, a lot of viewers might have difficulty "getting" the humor in the film, as much of it arrives by way of the action/crime/drama material that is only slightly exaggerated. That's a genre that often borders on the absurd even when it's played seriously. So the tendency may be for people to take this film seriously at times, and miss the gist of the humor.

The real joke, of course, is that this is Hollywood--a fact made all too clear by director Ron Shelton's title montage of "Hollywood" on various signs. In Hollywood, as in LA in general, it seems that everyone has something else that they'd rather be doing than their actual job, so they're all really focusing on that instead, while the day job pays the bills. Everyone is trying to make connections, and they're willing to do all kinds of unusual things to make them. Everyone is constantly on their cell phones. Run-ins with people who have various connections to the entertainment industry are commonplace, and it's not unusual to casually compliment them on their talent or some facet of their career before you, say, run after their offspring with a gun. Criminal activity and other unpleasant facts of daily existence are mostly taken in stride because no one can let such things get in the way of achieving success in what they really want to do.

That Shelton was able to make a film about "the real joke", and still keep a capable "serious" action/crime/drama running in the background is the real secret to the film's success. Without looking the broader themes, one might wonder why Harrison Ford would pick a seemingly pedestrian script at this stage of his career. From a deeper perspective, this is a very funny film with a more serious, almost self-deprecating subtext (for Hollywood, or the entertainment industry in general), and with an even more generalized "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" theme. Hollywood Homicide is well worth a watch or reassessment with this in mind.

I really enjoyed watching Harrison & Josh acting together. It was a fun, action-packed film with two great hunks! They made it look like they enjoyed filming it too. I always enjoy watching Harrison Ford! The only time he freaked me out was in What Lies Beneath, at the end.

It not a serious crime drama/thriller so it must be a comedy? Hang on though, it's simply not funny or even mildly amusing. It is continually tedious throughout.

What is worth mentioning is that the film maker seemed obsessed with the ring tones on the character's mobile phones, to a point where it was just irritating (if you are supposed to turn off your mobile phone during the course of a film, why did the film makers insist on pushing this annoying plot-device on us?).

It would've been much more interesting if Mr Ford and Mr Barnett were just playing themselves (real actors moonlighting as cops). No explanation needed, it just would have been more watchable.

Tiresome.

I'm a Harrison Ford fan so I had to see this movie even though the reviews were not that good. It was a perfect way to spend a hot Tuesday afternoon. As I watched the movie, I also watched the audience to get a sense of their reaction. Everyone laughed from beginning to end of the movie! Everybody was having a great time! To hell with the critics! This is a great summer movie and Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett are a joy to watch! Harrison Ford admirably stretches himself to give a comedic performance as Joe Gavilon, a police detective who also moonlights as a real estate agent. I love the way Harrison Ford switches from cop mode to real estate agent mode at the drop of the hat and he was so funny being a slave to his cell phone. Josh Hartnett plays his rookie partner who has a part time job as a yoga instructor and who thinks of quitting the force to become an actor. Their interactions with each other and with the people around them are very funny. Never mind about the plot of the movie. The plot doesn't really matter. The plot has to do with the mystery of why these up and coming rappers were murdered in a club. There are guest stars galore in this movie and it was fun to spot Smoky Robinson doing a bit part as a cabbie. It's a funny movie! Everyone just sit back and enjoy the movie and forget about the critics! Harrison Ford is very funny and just to watch him is a real treat!

I saw this movie as a sneak preview on Monday night. I went into the movie with very low expectations, I wouldn't have even gone if it wasn't for the free ticket. The show did surprisingly deliver many laughs and I will probably be forced into taking a friend or even, god forbid, the wife. Many areas were slow and predictable, but overall it was quite fun. Several sensual scenes involving Harrison Ford actually drew snickers from the crowd. I even overheard a teenage girl say, "Gross, isn't he like 60!". I guess the 'Indy' days are over for Ford. The doughnut in one of the more intimate scenes probably drew the biggest laugh of the entire movie and got peoples' minds off the fact the Ford was making out with a lady 14 years younger than him.

Anywho, the rest of the cast was good. Keith David as Lieutenant Fuqua was entertaining. The always surprising and very compelling, Dwight Yoakam was great. Not Sling Blade great, but more like Panic Room great. Josh Hartnett's character was funny in a very whacked out yoga way, but was clearly in the film for folks like the aforementioned wife. Overall good movie, go see it. 7/10.

I've seen every movie Harrison Ford has done. I consider him to be in my top 5 of best male contemporary actors. I found this movie however to be so unwatchable, I literally couldn't finish watching it!!! The writing, the dialog, the acting!!!! How could this be? OK, all actors are entitled to a bad film once in a while.

Like many have said the movie comes across as not being sure what genre it is or isn't. The worst part for me was watching Harrison Ford during chase scenes. It looked to me as though his arthritis was acting up. It was so distracting and I was embarrassed for him. I have seen plenty of aging actors take on physical roles that of course they're not as fast or as agile as their younger counterparts, but they didn't move with such rigidity and pain that it became a distraction in itself. YIKES! I understand that his character did real estate on the side. He looked more like an aging real estate agent who was forced into doing something physical that he's not accustomed to doing, like a cop chasing suspects.

Josh Hartnett was also forgettable in this disaster and looked completely bored most of the time. I can't comment on the entire picture, just the part I watched, and that.......was enough.

I went to see Hollywood Homicide in spite of the poor reviews because I wanted to see Harrison in a comedy. He did a great job, much better than Six Days Seven Nights (where he was trapped on the island with Anne Heche). Also, some have said the plot is impossible to follow. This is another of the reasons I decided to go, because often when people state this and give a movie a low rating, they are blaming the movie for their own lack of mental dexterity. The plot was not hard to follow, though it did zip right along. Josh Harnet and Harrison Ford played off of each other well, and their interaction was interesting and funny. I had never seen Josh before, and was impressed. No one will get an academy award, but as a light hearted summer action-comedy, it's a fine way to spend a rainy afternoon. (My 10 year old daughter also liked the movie.)

This was honestly one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Considering it is starring Harrison Ford, a usually bold and dynamic figure, this movie was truly a surprise--a terrible, terrible surprise. The dialogue hung together about as well as if it had been written the night before at 3am. Actually, if Ford and Hartnett had simply ad-libbed I would wager the result could not have been worse than the final script.

The sad aspect of this movie is that the fault does not lie fully on the script. The acting from Ford and Hartnett is very poor. Most notably, Ford is completely unbelievable in his attempted "quirky" role. This is far from the dynamic, engaging Ford of "Indiana Jones" or "Witness."

You have been warned. Watch this at your own risk. Even if you are watching for laughs I would not recommend this movie. I think the only rational reason to watch this movie is if you wish to knock Ford from his pedestal of perfection down to the cold, hard floor that is Hollywood Homicide.

I like crime thrillers. It's one of my favorite genres, though I haven't seen many good ones in the medium of film. Most of the time, I'm reading them, like some of Kellerman's or Grisham's. Most movie crime thrillers just seem to fizzle out, though there are some classics, if they tend to be critically panned. Yesterday, I watched Hollywood Homicide on Netflix and finished with mixed feelings.

It promises to be both a comedy and a crime thriller, and it fails at both. There's maybe one point where I genuinely laughed because something funny happened, and about ten times where I just shook my head at the failed attempts at humor. The crime thriller aspect is ruined because there is literally zero mystery after about 10 minutes of the film when they literally show you who's the bad guy. Wow, you literally took away the entire point of crime thrillers: figuring out who done it and why. And the execution of telling you this is poor at best.

The action is few and far between and isn't very well executed. The acting isn't all that great. It does have Harrison Ford as the leading character, but nor are there any other memorable names or does he do a great job himself. The characters are either bland or unlikeable. Harrison's is the best, and shows signs of potential. The dialogue is meh. There's some good stuff, iffy stuff, and deplorable stuff. There's even an uncomfortable and unnecessary sex scene (though it doesn't show anything, thankfully).

So I wanted to like it, but the only piece of comedy comes in the first ten minutes, and the failed crime aspect kind of ruin this film. However, it does entertain for the rest of the film and didn't make me cringe much outside of the few failed attempts of humor. So it's not the worst thing, but it's a failed attempt at best. Hollywood Homicide gets a 5/10. Had it succeeded in either aspect it promises, it could've been a great film, but it just isn't great. It isn't good. It isn't decent. And it isn't even mediocre.

It's Hollywood of the present day and a couple of guys come into a club with Uzis and start shooting it up. Several members of a rap group are slain. As this is a world that doesn't open up to law enforcement in general, solving this massacre is going to be tough.

But put on this Hollywood Homicide are a pair of detective partners of different generations both of whom have different other life careers. Harrison Ford has delved deeply into those get rich quick real estate schemes you see on infomercial television. He's got himself a $700,000.00 lemon on his hands right now and even LAPD's Internal Affairs is looking into him.

As for young Josh Hartnett, son of a cop killed in the line of duty, he'd really like to be an actor. He's also into new wave type religion that really drives Internal Affairs nuts when he's questioned.

The club owner Isaiah Washington who employs some LAPD cops as his security is not terribly cooperative, maybe preferring to deal with it in house in every sense of the word. It's not going to be easy for Ford and Hartnett who seem to be dealing with all of this in their spare time.

It's all the usual kind of stuff you expect in modern police comedies or dramas and this is a bit of both. I'd like to single out soul singer Gladys Knight who plays the mother of a survivor who does in fact put Hartnett and Ford on the right track. And his fans will be somewhat taken aback by Lou Diamond Phillips who has a cameo appearance as an undercover detective in full drag. Make up and wardrobe really did right by Lou.

Fans of the two lead actors should enjoy Hollywood Homicide.

...like apparently all the ones you could have watched before. This effort cranked out by Ron Shelton rests on basic bases. Two cops from Los Angeles are compelled to work together. There's Joe Gavilan (Harrison Ford), a seasoned policeman who has recourse to unconventional methods to do his job. He has to team up with young Calden (Josh Hartnett). Both of them are involved in an investigation revolving around a series of murders in the world of rap. But in parallel, the former also works as an estate agent to make ends meet while the latter teaches yoga and dreams of becoming an actor...

American cinema has already offered us products boasting two mismatched cops who are compelled to work together to solve a murder or to clarify a judicial affair like "48 Hours" (1982) or "the Lethal Weapon" saga. "Hollywood Homicide" finds itself deeply rooted in this tradition with the portraits of the two men I described earlier. But it is different from the other buddy movies because the viewer discovers another face of the American police. Some members are obliged to occupy a second job to provide for their needs. Thanks to this, Shelton renews a little the genre his flick belongs to with the contribution of Robert Souza who was a former cop.

The director turned to this perspective with a playful eye and thus his film has strong comedy accents. Is it enough to ensure the vision of the film? Well, Shelton's venture and his intentions are rather commendable but they amount to a lame movie. It oscillates nearly all the time between comedy of manners and detective film and has trouble to keep a unity and a stable pace. It is at times monotonous especially in the first half and it sometimes takes a boisterous turn. Shelton also obviously tried to bestow his work with an action-packed side in his story, notably with an endless chase in the second hour; first in car then on foot which throws the film off balance. The options chosen by Shelton to showcase the two heroes' private lives also get the film embroiled in shallow subplots. Then as the film boasts two stars, Shelton and Souza seemed to proportion correctly Ford and Hartnett's roles so that each of them could have equal parts on the screen. You can check this remark throughout the film by the numerous signs or clues related to the respective lives of our duo.

If this film had been more tightened and fluid, it could have been the perfect contender to completely transcend and renew the buddy movie.