Customer Reviews

Hollywood Homicide [VHS]

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(27)
2 star:		(24)
1 star:		(32)

 

 

Harrison ford and Josh Hartnett play homicide detectives investigating the quadruple murder of an up-and-coming rap group. Yet, no, don't go in expecting a nailbiting police procedural.

The film is strewn with several cliches but I fail to see why reviewers tend to compare it to "Lethal Weapon" and "Rush Hour." The partners are not mismatched, not constantly annoying each other , and it is filled with interesting characters that make up for the generic storytelling.

Ford's character for instance moonlights as a real-estate agent who, despite not having sold a house in some time, dabbles in the business because being a cop can't pay the bills. Hartnetts character takes yoga lessons, in the process meeting women. This makes even the most generic scenes seem fresh and new.

So, when watching an otherwise predictable car chase, you will find yourself worrying more about the characters reactions than the actual car chase itself. This is a film that relies more on characters than action and eye-candy. You will probably wear a slight grin on your face when Hartnett re-enacts "A Streetcar Named Desire" on the balcony of a Beverly Hills condo, or when Ford closes a real estate deal on his cell phone in the middle of an intense gunfight.

Yes, the story is stale, but the characters are not, and that is probably the point. "Hollywood Homicide" puts itself a step above other cop films by offering characters (or caricatures thereof) that we can actually care for.

Hollywood Homicide is fluff, but good fluff. It was nice seeing Harrison Ford play a lighter role than K19 the widowmaker and such. Josh Hartnett is well, Josh Hartnett... ok I guess, but not nearly at the acting level of other people his age. The script is funny, compensating for an underdeveloped plot, though I did begin to tire of cell phone jokes. Plus the chase scene was a bit too long. Other than that, this was a good summer movie, action and comedy rolled into one.

Woof. A buddy cop "comedy" with intermittent violence and wise-cracks and rappers? Was this "movie" really made in 2003, or has it been sitting on the shelf since 1986 (because that's where it belongs)? This is exactly the type of heartless group think trash that tells me Hollywood is not going to make it in the 21st century. The only thing that baffles me is why Harrison Ford would do something like this? And who decided Josh Hartnett is a star? Just because he was in Peal Harbor? Well, we didn't want to see THAT movie either.

Hollywood Homicide should be called Hollywood Death, because that's what it truly foretells. Skip it.

I suffered through this movie. It was billed as a comedy but neither myself nor any of the 4 people I watched it with cracked a giggle though the whole thing.
It was boring, the plot - well there really was no plot to speak of, the musical score was just junky characterless rap and the dialog was lame.
The car chase was a yawn, and I applauded the ending - it ended.

This movie is not even worth going into a description of it. Just skip it and save your money to see something decent.

I don't know what is going on with Harrison Ford lately but this should have been an embassment for him unless he was just trying to show is still cool to his new little girlfriend.

I was dissapointed that Bruce Greenwood and Martin Landau got roped into this nonsensical mess.

Sorry, this movie stunk.

I wasn't gonna go see this movie, but then Ebert and Roeper gave it "Two Thumbs Up" (and I typically respect Eberts reviews) so I figured maybe it's better than it looks.

Nope.

If you've seen the full trailer to this film, you've pretty much seen the movie. If your thinking not much happens in the trailer or there doesn't seem to be much sense of story, you're right. That's the movie. The first full hour of the film is almost completely pointless. The story seems void of any direction whatsoever. In the last quarter of the film, things finally seem to come together, but still it's about as climactic as anything you might have seen in an episode of T.J. Hooker.

Many will likely be seeing this film with expectations of seeing a Lethal Weapon type movie. Let me advise you not to expect this. The Josh Hartnett and Harrison Ford have almost no chemistry and neither one are believable as cops and the comedy... well there really isn't any. There should be. You're watching, and scenes play out as if they were supposed to be funny, but you aren't laughing.

...

All throughout watching this movie I could not help but observe that Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett have no real sense of comedy. Judging by the rest of the performances of supporting characters, neither does the director. I kept wondering to myself, what is the point of this movie? It's definately trying to fill the shoes of an action/comedy, but there's as little action as there is comedy. And what is with the rap/hip-hop soundtrack? Even though this film is loosely about the investigation of some rap stars' murders, it seems completely out of place to the story and the target audience.

None of the actors give poor performances (excepting their lack of being funny), and I'd even go so far as to say this is the best I've seen Josh Hartnettt perform. But the movie just isn't good. It's not even entertaining. Bottom line: it's been a long time since I was this bored in a theatre.

the script might be written by a brain-dead person. the whole film dragged on like a leaking suv tire, slowly turned soft and under pressure and finally totally became flat. yeah, flat. i could never imagine that harrison ford would have agreed to take this role or even agreed to read the script before signed on. did he know that how pathetic he would have turned to be by accepting such role? my god, a nightmare. this is one of the worst movies i've seen so far in year 2003. amen.

This is one of the worst movies I have ever saw. No plot whatsoever..This movie goes nowhere. It's a terrible script, the acting is okay, but I don't have a clue why Josh and Harrison wasted thier talents on this piece of garbage.

HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE plays like a Starsky and Hutch episode, that might air on Showtime since it's violent and has some nudity. Harrison Ford is a LAPD cop who moonlights as a real estate broker; Josh Hartnett is his young partner, who wants to be an actor and teaches some kind of yoga on the side. Together they investigate the execution style slaying of a rap group named H20 Slick, a group who was planning on getting out of their contract with a sleazy record producer, played by Isaiah Washington (True Crime, Ghost Ship). Add Bruce Greenwood (Below) as an IA cop who's trying to nail Ford due to an old vendetta; Gladys Knight as the mother of an eyewitness to the crime; Lena Olin as Ford's psychic radio star girlfriend; Lou Diamond Phillips as a male hooker undercover cop; Martin Landau as a hasbeen director; Master P as a record producer out to buy the perfect house; cameos by Robert Wagner and Eric Idle---you get the picture.
Ford and Hartnett have a good rapport and some of their dialogue is hilarious, but the movie is so disoriented and implausible, it leaves you wanting more...of what, I'm not sure, but something's missing.
Not a bad time passer.

Yes, the basic idea is this. Make a buddy-buddy cop action with two bankable stars, one veteran and one upcoming. And throw some humor (of sort) in between the actions, plus the cameo appearances. Then you get "Hollywood Homicide" which is, I frankly say, a total misfire case of how not to make a film.

The story is about two cops Harrison Hord and Josh Hartnett, whose main concern seems to lie not in arresting the criminals. They both have some part-time job (real estate agent and yoga instructor), which are more lucrative than police jobs (now, the script is provided by Robert Souza, ex-police officer in homicide division, so I do not question this part).

And one hip-hop group are gunned down (reminding us of some real-life incidents), and the case throws the pair into the investigation behind the music business. But of course, you see many twists and turns of the story ... which are so many that I started to lose interest. Probably you will, too.

The problem is twofold; the film has too many sub-plots, which only detract our attention. The actions happen, but it is not easy to tell who is who (or who is not who). The film seems to mock the trend in Hollywood celebrities by introducing yoga or fortune telling, but this part just makes us feel "So what?"

The other problem is its misguided humors. Harrison Ford is guilty of being too comical, but it just does not work. The idea of his riding a bicycle when chasing a bad guy looks funny if the cop is played by actors like Jackie Chan, whose down-to-earth character makes the situation natural. In Harrison, whose best remembered role is still Indiana Jones, it is simply embarrasing and impossible.

Slightly interesting is the film's cameo. There are so many of them -- Eric Idle, Robert Wagner, Lou Diamond Philips, Frank Sinatra Jr., Gladys Knight, and even Smoky Robinson but few are effective. Perhaps, some of them refer to the famous cases involving celebrities (British Eric Idle arrestd or Philips in women's dress, both of which remind us of the two real-life incidents), Whatever they are, these brief cameo appearances are amusing for about ... ten seconds.

Maybe, as the title suggest, the greatest thing about the film is its location -- Hollywood. You can see many famous places of the Tinseltown, plus an unexpected glimpse of Venice Canals. And compared with the fine locale, the film's actors (including Lolita Davidovich, wife to the director Ron Shelton) are all boring. Excuse me for giving this negative review, but the lack of charisma of Harrison, Josh, et al is too painful to see.

Awful....just plain awful. No plot, no humor, no excitement, no nothing. Don't waste your time or money. If I could have rated this movie zero stars, I would have.