Hollywood Homicide

Plot synopsis:
LAPD Sergeant Joe Gavilan (Harrison Ford) is a financially strapped Hollywood homicide detective who began moonlighting as a real estate broker seven years ago. His partner is Detective K. C. Calden (Josh Hartnett), a much younger officer who teaches yoga on the side and wants to be an actor. The duo are assigned to investigate the murders of four men, members of a rap group called H2OClick who were gunned down in a nightclub by two unidentified assailants. The detectives discover there was a witness in the nightclub who escaped unnoticed, and they work together to track him down. In the midst of it all, Gavilan has to deal with a looming real estate deal that may be the key to getting out of debt, while Calden further pursues his dreams of acting by trying to be scouted by talent agents.
Unknown to the two detectives, Antoine Sartain (Isaiah Washington), the manager and producer of H2OClick, has his head of security eliminate the two hitmen they had hired to carry out these murders and the murder of Klepto, a rapper whom Sartain also managed and produced, whose case is still open. Initially, Gavilan and Calden had believed the murders were gang-related, but Calden later sees the bodies of the hitmen at the morgue and puts two-and-two together to conclude that the murders were being orchestrated by someone else. The detectives also notice some eerie similarities between the H2OClick and Klepto homicides and figure that the two cases are connected. Gavilan learns from an undercover officer posing as a prostitute that the songwriter for H2OClick, a man named K-Roc, had suddenly gone missing; and Gavilan believes he is the murder witness they had been tracking. However, it proves difficult to track down K-Roc when they cannot determine his real name, but it is later discovered that K-Roc is Oliver Robideaux, the son of Olivia Robideaux (Gladys Knight), a former Motown singer.
Meanwhile, the arrival of Lieutenant Bernard "Bennie" Macko (Bruce Greenwood) at headquarters unnerves Gavilan—both have had a bad history with one another ever since Gavilan proved him wrong on a case years ago. It also turns out that Gavilan's love interest, a psychic named Ruby (Lena Olin), used to date him. Macko is intent on taking away Gavilan's badge, going so far as to try to frame him and place both detectives in interrogation. After they are released, Gavilan and Calden seem to have formed a closer bond, and Gavilan offers to help the latter when he reveals that his father Danny Calden who had also been a cop had been mysteriously gunned down during a sting operation gone wrong. His partner at the time, Leroy Wasley, was implicated in the murder, but later released on lack of evidence.
Gavilan and Calden continue the investigation—they track down K-Roc to his home, where Olivia Robideaux professes her son's innocence and that Antoine Sartain, the manager of the group, was the real culprit. Sartain had been embezzling money from both Klepto and the members of H2OClick for years, and when they later found out, they threatened to hire lawyers to nullify their contracts. Enraged, Sartain had ordered the murders that were later carried out by the hitmen as a "lesson" to all the other members under his record label. It also turns out that Sartain's head of security is none other than Leroy Wasley, and that Macko is also in league with him as well.
They prepare to arrest Sartain and Wasley, but can't seem to find their location. Desperate, Gavilan enlists the help of Ruby, who, after a brief meditating session, leads the two detectives to a clothing store. Just then, Sartain and Wasley happened to drive by the store, and Gavilan and Calden follow suit in a wild car chase that leads them through the streets of Los Angeles, that later separates and pits them against Sartain and Wasley, respectively. While struggling against Sartain, Gavilan manages to overthrow him, and Sartain winds up falling from the top of a building to his death in a dumpster. Meanwhile, Wasley has a gun drawn on Calden and admits to killing his father. But Calden utilizes his acting skills to distract Wasley just as he is about the pull the trigger, incapacitates him, reveals he had a tape recorder on the whole time(capturing Wasley bragging about having murdered his father), and arrests him. Gavilan and Calden reunite as LAPD officers swarm the scene in the background, but Macko appears and calls for the arrests of the two officers. However, Macko winds up being the one led away in handcuffs for his affiliations with Sartain and covering up Wasley's corruption.
The next scene shows Gavilan and Ruby (wearing the dress she bought at the clothing store) attending a production of A Streetcar Named Desire, in which Calden was playing a lead role. It is implied that Gavilan successfully brokered the real estate deal, and Calden is giving his all in the pursuit of his acting dream. However, both of them receive calls from police headquarters and leave in the middle of the play. In the end, Gavilan and Calden are both heard ordering cheeseburgers, saying it would be "a long night".

Tags: paranormal, violence, humor, murder

Review:
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.
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.
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.
This is a great summer movie and Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett are a joy to watch!
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.
After seeing the movie in the sneak preview, I know the film makers knew exactly what they they were making - a flat out comedy with some good, funny action sequences.
This is an excellent buddy cop movie, with lots of action and a good plot, it won't win Oscars for story telling but it's interesting.
HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE (2003) ** Harrison Ford, Josh Hartnett, Lena Olin, Bruce Greenwood, Isaiah Washington, Keith David,  Dwight Yoakam,  Lolita Davidovich,  Martin Landau,  Master P,  Lou Diamond Phillips, Gladys Knight, Smokey Robinson, Kurupt, Dre, (Cameo: Eric Idle;  Robert Wagner as himself).
By-the-numbers cop/buddy flick with Ford and Hartnett as gruff and flaky (respectively) LAPD detectives on the case of a rap group assassination while attempting to juggle their moonlighting gigs as real estate broker and wanna be actor (respectively) with a more-miss-than-hit attempt in the laughs department sadly by the out-of-touch script by director Ron Shelton (who acquits himself however in the action sequences including a smash bang-up thrilling car chase along Hollywood Boulevard) and Robert Souza that may have worked 20 years ago with its punchy takes at how LA is a town of many colorful characters on the make at something other than their boring careers (in this case police work).
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.
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.
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..
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.
Harrison Ford was a good cop with some trouble and a great real estate man on the side.
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).
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.
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.
Somehow it manages to be witty and in good taste, while giving us just enough action (and I don't just mean car chases...do understand, Harrison Ford is involved, and Josh Hartnett isn't exactly unattractive either ;) to keep us wildly entertained.The one-liners are a riot, but there's an underlying parody here too, that is rampant throughout the movie.
The movie makes fun of buddy comedies, of car chases, and of Hollywood in general, by showing you just how ridiculous it really is.And yet...somehow these two stars (especially Harrison Ford, but I am impressed with young what's-his-name too) are so likeable, and so genuine, that we can really believe their situation, and root for them.Kudos to the makers of this film.
It does involve cops and a murder investigation but it is the natural humour in the movie and the interplay between Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett that is the best reason to see it.
But don't bother about the murder investigation or bad guys and watch the movie for Ford and Hartnett.
Ultimately you have to think that those who have wanted to see Hollywood Homicide would have done so by now, certainly fans of the generational divided lead actors (Josh Hartnett and Harrison Ford) would have long since tuned in to see what it's like.
The wry portrayal of the police system in a bustling Los Angeles is nicely etched into the froth, with the sidebar of coppers having two jobs being a deft poke in the ribs.Good fun with well crafted action scenes, but the main strength is in the writing and to see once again that Ford has been very undervalued as a comedy actor of the years.
I'm not really a fan of the over-the-top humor that seems to rule the comedy films these days, so this kind of humor really surprised and delighted me...I can guarantee you a good time if you liked Bad Boys, Lethal Weapon, 48 hours etc.6.4/10.
Either way, this continues my personal Harrison Ford streak (dating back to Star Wars, there hasn't been a movie of his I've seen that I've genuinely disliked, not even the strictly mediocre Random Hearts).Ford stars as Joe Gavilan, a Hollywood detective moonlighting as a real-estate broker who's desperate to sell a house just to pay off his mortgage and alimony payments.
As a matter of fact, the "main" plot is barely given any genuine development, it's just there to provide the movie with a frame with which the leads can interact and get into some physical action.The movie's success lies mainly with leads Ford and Hartnett, who, surprisingly, aren't the typical mis-matched buddy pairing I was expecting (they actually get along pretty well).
The roundabout way that things unfold in Hollywood Homicide is quite frankly a breath of fresh air, because the tensions in the movie aren't hinged on the solving of any crimes, but on Harrison selling that property and Josh playing 'Stanley' to perfection.
Josh Hartnett's dead eyes, the thick writing of it, and Harrison Ford being in a buddy-cop comedy !
Making one that tries to mix action and comedy through the police of Hollywood itself is sure a good idea but the final result of that turned out to be not at least a spoof of the subgenre but a reason to ask God to have mercy upon all the past movies of the same kind whereas the worst of them was by all means greater than (Hollywood Homicide).What really did happen to this entertaining formula ?!
And. And also to note that Harrison Ford must really be delusional to still believe after all his failures that he is a good enough actor to do comedy.But in the midst of all the little jobs done by various trades (the cars, the girls, a few jokes) there were two elements that were not a waste: two of the most interesting mature women in film.
Disappointingly mild action-comedy/buddy movie about two mismatched L.A. cops—one a stiff veteran who sells real estate on the side, the other a young stud who teaches yoga and aspires to become an actor—who are paired together to try and solve a homicide case involving up and coming rap artists.
This movie was an entertaining and great first attempt by Ron Shelton who took risks with his material and found an fine balance between humor and story plotline that truly promises even better things to come.Harrison Ford did great with his expressions, his sense of humor, and his letting go and enjoying, playing his part while Josh Harnett went a long for an enjoyable romp with a different kind of cop movie.
Potentially entertaining scenarios present themselves only to be mishandled by either lazy acting, lazy writing, lazy directing, or a combination of all three.Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett have zero chemistry together in the lead roles as kind of mismatched buddy cops, who each moonlight in other occupations and have way too many side issues going on in their personal lives, especially, annoyingly so, with Ford's Joe Gavilan.
He even ends the movie with Ford cracking the same unfunny lines he began with in one of his opening scenes.It's clear Shelton's talents lie in the sports film genre, rather than crime comedy.
Hollywood Homicide starring Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett in an odd pairing and unrealistic cop crime comedy drama.
I love Harrison Ford, and here he stars in "Hollywood Homicide" as a cop/real estate broker.
The film also features Josh Hartnett as his partner/fledgling actor, Lena Olin, Bruce Greenwood, Isaiah Washington, Keith David, Dwight Yoakam, Lolita Davidovich, Martin Landau, Master P, Lou Diamond Phillips, Gladys Knight, Smokey Robinson, Kurupt, Dre, with a cameo by Eric Idle, and also Robert Wagner.
Hollywood police detective Joe Gavilan (Harrison Ford) and his young partner K.C. Calden (Josh Hartnett) are investigating the murder of a rap group at a nightclub.
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.
It's not hard to see what attracted Harrison Ford to Hollywood Homicide, buddy cop movies if done well are usually successful, Josh Hartnett was on a role after 'Pearl Harbour', 'Black Hawk Down' and '40 days and 40 nights'.
Two LAPD detectives played by Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett investigate the murder of an up and coming rap band.
In his spare time Ford moonlights as an real estate agent, Hartnett as a yoga instructor, but he really wants to be an actor, an spends a lot of time reciting 'A Streetcar Named Desire'There are scenes of action, car chases (more like Smokey & The Bandit than Bullit) chases on foot and shoot outs.
It had Harrison Ford, it was about cops, couldn't be all bad."Hollywood Homicide" retells the story of Joe (Ford) a policeman who dabbles in real estate on the side.
Set in a city where everyone aspires to be something other than what they are, Josh Hartnett's K.C. Calden wants to be an actor while Harrison Ford's Joe Gavilan would rather be in real estate.
This is not just because the "Cop Genre" has been claimed almost exclusively by TV shows like CSI, NYPD Blue etc etc, but also because the story and characters here are too big and too small for the big screen.Harrison Ford plays a hardened cop who has a side job of selling real estate, the business cards come out at crime scenes as he tries to sell a white elephant in the Hills district.
Josh Hartnett plays his younger and more enthusiastic partner who really wants to be an actor.Both these characters would work well on TV as we could see them develop, rather than be constrained by a very unimaginative cop crime plot.
Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnet aren't bad in their parts, just that these characters become quirks without the time and development they need to really work.Plus the car chases and violence is just so over the top.
Hollywood Homicide is a typical buddy cop comedy with Harrison Ford as the experienced cop and Josh Hartnett as the rookie.
I loved the way that our two cops had lives outside of work (real estate and yoga/show biz).Not the greatest movie on earth, but it was good to laugh that hard..
It is amazing how funny Josh Hartnett and Harrison Ford can be when they are in the same movie.
It was great fun seeing Harrison Ford so loose and amusing, but at the same time giving an exciting action performance one comes to expect from his movies.
Watching it, I didn't know if it was intending to make fun of itself or if the film's makers really thought the Hollywood roles of detectives with outside jobs was funny.
Harrison Fords character plays a cop who is greatly in debt and also holds a job as a real estate desperatley trying to sell a house and turn a quick profit.
The rap music and score of the film were pretty good too.For anybody who is a fan of Harrison's work such as myself go see this movie, you won't be disappointed!*** out of ****.
While watching Hollywood Homicide I couldn't help but feel like Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett probably had a good deal of fun making the movie, and certainly a good deal of this fun is shared by the audience.
The action nor the chasing down of suspects is all that interesting but it does get you to the middle point of the movie when both Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnet turn on the funny switch and you really just forget about the mundane details of the plot.What sells this film are the characters almost in the same way that it was the characters that had you coming back for more in the Lethal Weapon movies.
And even though the Lethal Weapon films does a better job creating thrilling scenes and balancing it with scenes of buddy humor, Hollywood Homicide actors Ford and Hartnet have a genuine connection that works and is funny.
Harrison Ford coasts on his waning charm and (literally) phones in a performance, while Josh Hartnett is his usual, dazed-looking self, much like a five-year-old who wandered onto a movie set.
Remember when Harrison Ford was the biggest star in Hollywood because he made great movies?
Those days are feeling like a more and more distant memory.While "Hollywood Homicide" is by no means terrible, it is a routine and surprisingly boring buddy cop movie.
I'm a big fan of Harrison Ford and it was great just to see him in another movie, but him and Josh Hartnett seemed to work really well together.
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.
Hollywood Homicide isn't a good film when you get right it down to it, nor is it a really bad one.
Formula buddy/cop action/comedy casts a worn down looking Harrison Ford as a detective and a sleepwalking Josh Hartnett as his junior partner...
While others may want to call it a bad detective movie, I like to call it a lovely comedy, a parody of both Hollywood industry and the police world.
"Hollywood Homicide" has two good ideas: a cop who is also a estate agent, and a younger detective who wants to be an actor.
If you like Harrison Ford and/or any of the actors mentioned above then I strongly recommend Hollywood Homicide!