L.A. Confidential (1997)

I had a friend in college who staunchly believed that this movie should have won the Best Picture Oscar in '97 over Titanic; while I am not sure I concur with that opinion, L.A. Confidential is one amazing film. This is an intriguing story involving the LAPD, politics, drugs and high class hookers. Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce end up fighting for their lives against corrupt, upper level police officers. The story line of L.A. Confidential is so twisted that it is a little difficult to follow, but it all comes to a head very clearly in the end, and is an incredibly well written movie. The back and forth dialogue in this movie is Tarantino-esque, and the production qualities in this film are top drawer. The cast of this film is great, and incredibly deep. Kim Bassinger is terrific as one of the prostitutes made to look like a movie star; this is one of the movies that put her on the map. Guy Pearce is perfect as the sniveling, political weasel who makes good in the end. Dany Devito and James Cromwell are perfect in their roles as Hollywood gossip trader and corrupt police chief. I would say the best performances in L.A. Confidential are turned in by Russell Crowe and Kevin Spacey. Crowe plays a thug who makes good in the end, and does so perfectly. The only thing that I would say is that the character he plays does not seem that different than he does off screen, so it may not have been that much of a stretch. Spacey is spot on as the 'movie star' detective who struggles with his own ethical dilemmas. After watching L.A. Confidential, Spacey's performances in The Usual Suspects and American Beauty come as no surprise. I could go on about the cast, there are more noteable actors and noteworthy performances, but it could take all day. I can find very few flaws with this film; the plot is a little thick, and the action is a little 'bang bang shoot-em-up', but it plays really well. My wife is sick, so did not want to sit through such an intense movie, but I think that she would have liked it. I would not have given this movie the Oscar over Titanic, but I really enjoyed it. I give L.A. Confidential 4 stars.