A no-nonsense dramatic response to the LAPD Rampart scandals of the '90s.

Full Review | Jul 22, 2008

Dirty is a solid ride, and deserves recognition if only because it affords Gooding the chance to reaffirm his acting chops.

| Mar 1, 2007

Fisher goes a bit too over the top with a couple of conventions that I wish he'd rein in.

| Oct 25, 2006

This picture of it is poppin' blanks at too many turns to be considered honest nor a reflection of the real deal.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Aug 26, 2006

...although Dirty isn't much better than some of his earlier efforts, one can't help but admire Gooding Jr's willingness to portray such an irredeemably nasty character.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 1, 2006

We get it. All of you guys watched the Tarantino movies and you watched the Peckinpah movies. Enough, give us something original.

Full Review | Feb 27, 2006

DIRTY boasts about a wayward police drama that needs considerable conscientious washing. Sadly, this perfunctory scrub job simply attacks the same old neglected stained areas.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 26, 2006

The cinematography of Eliot Rockett is also laudable: The city is not only rendered in the usual hot and gritty texture of urban landscapes, but is imbued with sense of oppression that is palpable.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 24, 2006

Even the stunningly downbeat ending smacks of sub-Tarantinoesque theatrics.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 24, 2006

The machinations of the plot are so murky as to be not worth following.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Feb 24, 2006

The only suspense is how long it's going to take for this movie to finally drag to an end.

Full Review | Original Score: 0/4 | Feb 24, 2006

As good as the leads and the supporting cast are, and as much action as gets packed into the film's relatively brief running time, none of it draws us in dramatically.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 24, 2006

As the villain, Wyclef Jean exercises an impression-as-accent of John Malkovich's character from Rounders in turn impersonating a member of the Jamaican bobsled team.

| Feb 24, 2006

Capturing LA as a sepia-toned, sunbaked wasteland just isn't fresh. Why must every LA cop drama take place on the hottest day of the year just as the city is about to explode?

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 24, 2006

The intentions are sincere, but you'll want to take a good shower after sitting through this mess.

| Original Score: C- | Feb 24, 2006

| Original Score: C- | Feb 24, 2006

While I have no doubt that real corrupt cops use language like this, it sounds like these actors don't actually know what the words mean. They sound like eighth graders... like Anthony Anderson and Taye Diggs in Malibu's Most Wanted pretending not

Full Review | Feb 23, 2006

Cuba Gooding Jr. sheds the halo that has threated to strangle his career by playing a corrupt cop in a nasty little genre film set in Los Angeles.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Feb 23, 2006

It makes Training Day seem like a film about good citizenship, but Dirty is also a luxury vehicle for two actors whose every appearance on screen is a boon.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 23, 2006

Like the best pulp, though, it gets its hooks into you faster than you can start to wonder why you should possibly care about what happens to any of its despicable characters, and, before you know it, you've been pulled deep into its Dantean vision.

| Feb 23, 2006