Hollywood Homicide



Hollywood Homicide is a 2003 buddy cop film which stars Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett as two mismatched detectives who are thrown together to investigate the murder of an up-and-coming rap group in Los Angeles while dealing with their own personal struggles. Hilarity Ensues.

Detective Joe Gavilan (Ford) is a snarky over-the-hill cop who finds himself partnered with a young recruit, K.C. Calden (Hartnett), to find the culprit behind the massacre of a rap group, in what appears to be a gang-related shooting. Gavilan could care less about the case (as he moonlights as a real estate broker), while Calden has spent the past several years trying to find the man who murdered his father in the line of duty. The duo end up trailing a record label producer, Antoine Sartain (Isaiah Washington), who knows more information he lets on, and interact with a diverse cast of characters, including a psychic, an Internal Affairs investigator named Macko (Bruce Greenwood) obsessed with revenge against Gavilan, rap artists and more as they try to get to the bottom of the case.

The film was based on several real-life experiences faced by police officers, and took cues from other successful "buddy cop" films like Lethal Weapon. It was stuck in Development Hell for several years, and changed gears midway through production when it was reworked from a serious drama to a comedic vehicle for Ford and Hartnett. The film bombed theatrically at the box office, only making half of its estimated $130 million budget.


 * And the Adventure Continues...: The film keeps going after all the plot threads are wrapped up, with two scenes playing out over the closing credits (Calden performing in a play and the duo cracking jokes at another crime scene).
 * Be as Unhelpful as Possible: Inverted during a scene where Gavilan and Calden are held in separate interrogation rooms by an Internal Affairs investigator who's trying to nail them for improper police conduct. Calden sits on his table and performs yoga in front of an incredulous female investigator, while Gavilan smuggles his phone into the interrogation room and tries to conduct a real estate deal while the IA chief is asking him questions.
 * Bring My Brown Pants: The sole witness to the opening crime, a young rapper who hid in a backroom, is identified by the cops when they find the puddle of urine caused when he got scared. Later on, the same thing happens again when the two cops have to protect him.
 * By-The-Book Cop: Gavilan
 * The Cavalry Arrives Late: The two cops aiding Gavilan as he chases Sartain arrive moments after he throws the rap mogul off the building into a dumpster. Had Gavilan hung back for a couple minutes, the two cops could have arrested Sartain without incident (as he was unarmed).
 * Classically-Trained Extra: Calden believes that he's the next Marlon Brando, and makes several claims throughout the film that his talent is being wasted on community theater productions. This avoids Informed Ability when he performs in a scene from A Streetcar Named Desire during the closing credits, and his performance is so groanworthy that Gavilan has to browbeat the audience into applauding at the end.
 * Contrived Coincidence: The final chase scene begins when Gavilan and Calden, who are simply walking along a street talking about how they can't find Sartain (who's disappeared), see the aforementioned man and The Dragon across the street and try to arrest them, which leads to the final chase.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Gavilan.
 * Dirty Cop:, the cop who conducted illegal drug smuggling and was the one who killed Gavilan's father.
 * Donut Mess with a Cop
 * Femme Fatale: Ruby, an L.A. psychic who strikes up a relationship with Gavilan (and was previously involved with an Internal Affairs investigator who gets on Gavilan's case).
 * Flashed Badge Hijack
 * Hero Stole My Bike: Galivan steals a girl's bicycle in order to chase the villain during the final chase scene.
 * Hollywood Cuisine: Gavilan's diet mostly consists of cheeseburgers (with everything on it) and donuts.
 * Horrible Hollywood: Played for laughs. Gavilan is bombarded with pictures and scripts from would-be actors and writers, every person in a position of power is either corrupt or hopelessly clueless, and one of the two main characters shamelessly brags that he wants to leave the police force to become an actor.
 * Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Played with. Calden is a terrible shot (as evidenced by the opening scene), which works in his favor when he disarms his father's killer and fires several shots in his direction, knowing that he won't hit him (but will scare him anyway).
 * It's for a Book: Eric Idle appears as an author being booked at a police station, while protesting that he wasn't soliciting a prostitute - he was just gathering research for a role.
 * Kinda Busy Here: Gavilan's clients call him at inopportune times, like during chase scenes and an interrogation sequence.
 * Love Triangle: Gavilan, Ruby and Macko.
 * Rooftop Confrontation
 * Rule of Pool
 * Running Gag: Gavilan moonlights as a part-time real estate broker, and tries to negotiate a deal between a rap artist and a buyer. This even happens during the final chase scene, when the same artist yells a selling figure at Gavilan when he's chasing down a suspect.
 * Two-Person Pool Party: Calden returns to his home midway through the film to find one of the students from his yoga class waiting for him in his hot tub.
 * Working the Same Case: Calden's hunt for the man who killed his father years ago and Gavilan's investigation of Sartain end up being interconnected.
 * Villain with Good Publicity: Sartain.
 * You Killed My Father