Absolute Masterpiece

Rating: Null/10 (1 August 2002)

This is easily at the top of my list of favorite films. This movie is darn right near perfect. It took the first 3 times seeing it to get a grip on the storyline. It's a rather tangled story of murder, politics, sex, incest, abuse, corruption.
Much has been written about the screenplay, and it is superb. The dialog is right on the money. The atmosphere, the clothing, the look is pure 1940's Los Angeles.
Jack Nicholson has never been better. He nailed his character perfectly. Nicholson plays Jake Gittes, a smart-aleck Private Eye specializing in wayward spouses. Jake gets used by a client, and decides to find out who used him and why. The farther he goes, the more he learns, the more he gets sucked into something bizarre and unsettling.
This is a thoroughly well-made, interesting, entertaining movie. One of the very best.