L.A. Confidential (1997)
99 %
Reviews Counted: 74 Fresh: 73 Rotten:1 Average Rating: 8.5/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 18 mins
Synopsis:
Director Curtis Hanson captures the duality of 1950s Los Angeles in this striking film noir adaptation of James Ellroy's novel. The City of Angels might be sunny, inviting, and glamorous to the rest of the world, but it's also filled with corrupt cops, elegant hookers, murder cover-ups, and... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito
Director: Curtis Hanson
Screenwriter: Brian Helgeland, Curtis Hanson
Producer: Arnon Milchan, Michael G. Nathanson, Curtis Hanson
Composer: Jerry Goldsmith
Screenwriter: Brian Helgeland, Curtis Hanson
Producer: Arnon Milchan, Michael G. Nathanson, Curtis Hanson
Composer: Jerry Goldsmith
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
Taut, atmospheric, acted with confident ease -- this is one of the greatest American movies of the 1990s.
04/09/08 12:16 PM
Top Critic You have to pay close attention to follow the double-crossing intricacies of the plot, but the reward for your work is dark and dirty fun.
04/09/08 12:15 PM
Top Critic Stop reading. Put this review on hold until after you've seen L.A. Confidential.
04/09/08 12:14 PM
Spacey's Vincennes is the standout in a just about flawless ensemble, and director Curtis Hanson keeps the hugely complicated story zooming along the boulevard of broken dreams without losing sight of the details that make the trip worthwhile.
04/09/08 12:09 PM
An irresistible treat with enough narrative twists and memorable characters for a half-dozen films.
04/09/08 12:08 PM
Top Critic This movie restores genre elements to a level of potency that's disturbing, satisfying, and rare as hell.
04/09/08 12:06 PM
Top Critic A parlor game has already begun as to whether the supreme acting revelation in L.A. Confidential is provided by Mr. Crowe, Mr. Spacey or Mr. Pearce.
04/27/07 03:15 AM
Top Critic Representing the best of Classic Hollywood Cinema, this noir policier is marked by densely-plotted narrative, psychological depth, moral ambiguity, emotional complxity, and great acting, mostly by non-Americans, such as Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce.
08/26/06 12:59 PM
As the emotional nexus, a Veronica Lake lookalike trapped in a web of male desires, Basinger is arguably the pick of a perfect cast. Subtle, shocking, compelling and immensely assured.
06/24/06 04:02 AM
Top Critic You could call it a huge epic, but it's also a scrappy movie, full of energy as well as style.
05/26/06 03:17 AM
In doing away with manners, Hanson's hardboiled detective stories craft a more hard-hitting picture of the time than any filmmaker who worked in the 1950s could have dreamed
08/19/05 08:03 AM
There is a gritty, hard-boiled feel to 'L.A. Confidential' that is so audience satisfying.
05/28/05 05:39 AM
With every corner turned, the viewer feels that sinking feeling sink even deeper: everything's poisoned, everything's suspicious, everything's going down.
01/15/05 10:45 PM
This police corruption thriller, based on a James Ellroy novel, drags in places and ultimately fails in its film noir genre, but it's tops in art direction and photography.
06/22/04 07:48 AM
A hard-boiled cops and crime story that is at once viscerally entertaining and intellectually satisfying.
05/20/03 05:23 PM
Acted to perfection with more twists than you can shake a stick at.
04/21/03 05:31 PM
It is an intriguing whodunit, but nothing really unpredictable. Good work by Pierce and Crowe, though.
02/08/03 08:11 AM
A wondrous troika of actors lends L.A. Confidential its slippery but distinctive erotic poignancy.
01/10/03 08:13 AM
Related Forums
Set of 3 collectable promo cards for sale - Spacey, Crowe Etc.
by: manhunter.net 6/11/05
by: manhunter.net 6/11/05
News
Total Recall: The 10 Most Corrupt Cops in Movies
posted by Sara Schieron April 09, 2008
In honor of David Ayer's Street Kings we did a little bad-to-worse survey of the boys who soil their blue. Some of them are...
posted by Sara Schieron April 09, 2008
In honor of David Ayer's Street Kings we did a little bad-to-worse survey of the boys who soil their blue. Some of them are...
The Weekly Ketchup: Dunst Forgives Self For Bad Acting, Downey Reflects On "Iron Man," New "Magneto" Director, And More!
posted by Nick Hershey May 04, 2007
In this week's Ketchup, Kirsten Dunst talks about the woes of blue-screen theatrics, Robert Downey Jr. discusses his...
posted by Nick Hershey May 04, 2007
In this week's Ketchup, Kirsten Dunst talks about the woes of blue-screen theatrics, Robert Downey Jr. discusses his...
Box Office Guru Preview: Spidey Senses Tingling For a Record Opening Weekend
posted by Gitesh Pandya May 03, 2007
Will the friendly neighborhood webslinger reclaim the holy grail of the movie biz - the opening weekend box office...
posted by Gitesh Pandya May 03, 2007
Will the friendly neighborhood webslinger reclaim the holy grail of the movie biz - the opening weekend box office...
Trailer Bulletin: Eric Bana & Drew Barrymore in "Lucky You"
posted by Scott Weinberg July 27, 2006
I was wondering when we'd start getting smacked with all the poker movies ... and here comes one! Curtis Hanson's...
posted by Scott Weinberg July 27, 2006
I was wondering when we'd start getting smacked with all the poker movies ... and here comes one! Curtis Hanson's...
IGN RSS Feeds