BEFORE: Digging back into my wife's VHS collection for this cop film -
THE PLOT: A young district attorney seeking to prove a case against a corrupt police detective encounters a former lover and her new protector.
AFTER: This is a film directed by Sydney Lumet, who also directed "Serpico" and "Dog Day Afternoon" (as the VHS sleeve reminds me...).
Like last night's film, it's about a shooting, and a false claim of self-defense - (nice coincidence) only this time, the shooter is a cop, Det. Michael Brennan, played by Nick Nolte (last seen in "The Prince of Tides"). Assigned to the case is a young Assistant D.A., former cop Aloysius Reilly, played by Timothy Hutton (last seen in "The General's Daughter").
The case looks pretty cut-and-dried, until the witness's statements don't match the shooters, and a connection is revealed to crime boss Bobby Texador, whose common-law wife happens to be the ex-girlfriend of the investigating D.A. Seems to me this is the point where a certain D.A. should have recused himself due to a conflict of interest, but what do I know? This is one of those coincidences that can only happen in a movie - 8 million people in NYC, and your ex turns up in a relationship with your witness? I guess it's possible, but what are the odds?
Reilly sets out to get the scoop on Brennan, which involves a trip to Puerto Rico and a tour of NYC's drag-queen underworld - seems Brennan likes to beat up on trannies when he's not shooting small-time crooks. But who is Brennan working for, and how far up does the corruption go?
Unfortunately, there's action at the start and a climactic finish, but a lot of talky-talky in between. Yes, it's a complicated, cerebral story, but come on, guys, how about a car chase or something? Think of it this way - there's an event, and there's the discussion after the event - which one do you think would be more exciting to watch? I need to see more action and less investigation. It's like Lewis Black recently said about Twitter - "If you're Twittering about it, then you're NOT DOING IT!"
So I have to deduct the number of times I dozed off from 10 to get the film's score. Plus 1 point off for a truly horrible theme song, and while I'm at it, 1 point off for Nick Nolte's soup-strainer moustache.
Also starring Armand Assante (last seen in "American Gangster"), Charles S. Dutton (last seen in "Alien 3"), Luis Guzman (last seen in "The Taking of Pelham 123"), and Dominic "Uncle Junior" Chianese (last seen in "All the President's Men")
RATING: 4 out of 10 late-night phone calls
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