Brown's Requiem

Not so much LA Confidential as 'LA Cliché', this is based on James Ellroy's first book and feels like a dry run for themes and attitudes he went on to explore with far greater complexity and skill. The eternally hoarse Rooker is well cast as Fritz Brown, ex-cop, repo man, and occasional shamus: $500 a day, plus expenses. Hired by one 'Fatdog' to trail his sister's Jewish sugardaddy, Brown soon starts stumbling across your standard cross-section of corrupt cops, cruel corpses and cantankerous caddies. Cantankerous caddies? Well, okay, the film does have its inventive moments, but the rough edit I saw was stymied by too much voice-over and a funereal pace.