HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE

A senior-junior odd couple of detectives does its bumbling best to solve a messy hip-hop murder mystery.

CAST:Harrison Ford, Josh Hartnett, Keith David, Lena Olin, Vyshonne Miller, Master P, Jamison Jones, Martin Landau, Lolita Davidovich, K.D. Aubert, Lou Diamond Phillips, Bruce Greenwood, Tom Todoroff, Gladys Knight, Kurupt, Dwight Yoakam, Isaiah Washington, Eric Idle

DIRECTOR: Ron Shelton

"Harrison Ford plays Joe Gavilan, a veteran Los Angeles detective with money troubles, three ex-wives and a goofy, undisciplined young partner…He slips into the role as if it were a pair of well-worn loafers, the left inherited from Peter Falk, the right from Clint Eastwood, and then proceeds, with wry nonchalance, to tap-dance, shuffle and pirouette through his loosest, wittiest performance in years…Mr. Hartnett matches Mr. Ford's shambling irritability with a smooth, deceptive sweetness…the plot is not really the point. It is, instead, the hammered together frame that contains a motley collage of riffs, sketches and variations on some of Mr. Shelton's favorite themes, including the absurdity and nobility of manhood, the sex appeal of mature women and the varieties of interracial and intergenerational misunderstanding." --A.O. Scott, The New York Times

"It's a humiliating comedown for Ford, and he looks creaky and grumpy, obviously aware that he is miscast and dreading every scene…In indignity's finest hour, the movie seats the lanky action hero on a little girl's bicycle with a flower basket on the handlebars during the climactic chase scene…’Hollywood Homicide’ concludes with one of the most exhausting chase scenes on film, a shapeless, endless montage with a brutal payoff involving a Dumpster. The name of the disposal company? ‘Hollywood Waste.’ Indeed. --Jami Bernard, The New York Daily News

"The director, Ron Shelton (‘Bull Durham,’ ‘Tin Cup’), and his star, Harrison Ford, prove that all you need to revitalize shootouts, interrogation and forensics -- the narrative paraphernalia played for tired chills and bad jokes on most TV police shows -- is the talent (and willingness) to go all the way with sharp, eccentric characters…Ford is sensational as Joe Gavilan, a veteran homicide detective…Ford gives what used to be called an ‘old pro’ performance, except that it's actually the performance of a pro in his prime. Josh Hartnett's K.C. Calden provides the perfect counterpoint." --Michael Sragow, The Baltimore Sun

"There's little action in this snail-paced bore, you'll need a high-powered magnifying glass to spot the comedy and the ‘buddies’ have about as much chemistry as a pair of wet socks… Poor Josh Hartnett has the unlucky task of playing straight man to Ford, as the elder statesman makes a stab at flat-out comedy -- and falls woefully short, relying heavily on the smirk-cum-grimace he's bestowed upon characters from Han Solo on…the so-called humor in ‘Hollywood Homicide’ relies heavily on making Ford look foolish by sending up his aging action-hero persona. You'll merely feel embarrassed for him when he sets out in hot pursuit on a pink child's bicycle or makes a pre-coital quip to Ruby: ‘If I take my gingko, I can remember where I put the Viagra.’" --Megan Lehmann, The New York Post

"…a soup-to-nuts police procedural with more C-level cameos than borrowed plotlines…the newer, softer, human Ford (sense of humor, actual moving parts) brings to mind a line once written about a particularly prickly baseball player who'd suddenly softened as retirement neared: ‘He learned to say hello when it was time to say goodbye.’ That Ford, Hollywood's resident giant sequoia, would suddenly turn witty seems like the desperate act of a desperate man." --John Anderson, Newsday

"It’s been a long time—you have to go back to ‘Star Wars’ and the Indiana Jones movies, actually—since Ford has seen fit to unclamp his jaw and be loosey-goosey. He’s not entirely at home with comedy anymore, but at least he’s trying. Otherwise, the movie, which co-stars the staunchly dull Josh Hartnett as Ford’s partner, is a frustrating blend of the sharply funny and the ploddingly generic" --Peter Rainer, New York Magazine

"There's no joy in watching sturdy entertainers like Ford and Shelton stumble; it's particularly painful since directors tend to suffer for their mistakes more than stars…Given Shelton's MO as a good movie guy, it's the sour, churlish vibe that makes ‘Hollywood Homicide’ a disappointment. The parade of lazy Los Angeles jokes about yoga babes, hip-hop, cops and doughnuts might be tolerable if the actors didn't seem so uneasy, almost reluctant delivering them…Part of Ford's appeal is that he never comes off as interested in being a star, caught up in any of its attendant glamorous hooey. The problem is he doesn't seem deeply interested in being an actor either." --Manohla Dargis, The Los Angeles Times

"One of the pleasures of ‘Hollywood Homicide’ is that it's more interested in its two goofy cops than in the murder plot; their dialogue redeems otherwise standard scenes…Ford just gets better, more distilled, more laconic and more gruffly likeable, year after year." --Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times