As good as the previews

Rating: 9/10 (6 January 1999)

I wish I had seen this on the big screen. I made the mistake of listening to a couple of reviews, which made it out to be an overblown melodramatic adaptation of a contrived James Ellroy novel. Having read some Ellroy, I could imagine how bad that was.
The strange thing is, that isn't far from the truth, but the movie is far better than it implies. This is an excellent film-noir / thriller, superbly acted, and credible in the way only an Ellroy novel can make outrageous situations credible. Not one, but three excellent leading actors as cops (Crowe, Spacey, Pearce) working against / with each other in unexpected ways, each true to a very different vision of police work. Pearce (Ed Exley) especially does a superb job; he initially comes across as a weasel, and yet earns respect without changing his nature. And Kim Basinger is wonderful. I don't think she has ever been better.
The melodramatic touches oddly add to the credibility, and whether or not this reflects '50's LA, it certainly reflects a believable version of the gloss, allure and seediness we expect of LA.