BROOKLYN’S FINEST 1.5*** out of 4****

“Brooklyn's Finest” is really not a very good movie. The acting is passable but the writing is awful. The script reminds you of a want-a-be hip white guy trying to be black and, more so, sound like a rappy black, street-wise character. Nothing rings true and nothing is realistic… it shoots blanks. Also, I suppose in a post-apocalyptic New York City, people might commit crimes right in front of the police and then tell them to go blank themselves when, but I don't think so . And here we have Richard Gere playing a veteran cop with only seven days left to retirement who seems to be as meek as a lamb or as cowardly as a lion, who’s afraid to handle the ruffians on the street.. he just wants to go and hide until his time is up.. And Ethan Hawk, who plays a corrupt cop trying to steal as much drug money as possible, but being so obvious, in broad daylight and front of everyone, that only Brooklyn's Dumbest couldn't see it. And then we have Don Cheadle, the undercover cop torn between his loyalty to the department and his gangster friend while mouthing out hokey dialog until we can't help but laugh or cry.

The movie is filled with every cop-movie convention since the invention of gunpowder and curse words. It is three stories in one that converge at the end for a big climatic moment, as was done in the excellent film “Crash’ which, by the way, had the same director, Antoine Fuqua. Well, Fuqua , as they say, went to the same well one time too many because he’s really misses the mark here and this film ends up in a “crash “and burn. The three stories have been done before, many times; and the cops have been portrayed before, many times. Seen it. Seen it. And seen it.

Also this is a viciously brutal movie, well deserving of its “R” rating. And it’s too long…over two hours after which you feel like you need to go home and take a bath, send a thank-you note the men in blue and say your prayers. However, it occurred to me that because of the extent of the bad language in the film, it may have a unique future on cable or as a rental. It could be used as a drinking game for those who are really heavy hitter drinkers or think they are… sort of like beer pong. The challenge would be to see how long the drinkers could last if they had to take one big sip for each cuss word uttered… very few, if any, would make it to the end or even care whether they did or not.

Clark