starring Russell Crowe & Guy Pearce
In a nutshell: a top-notch film that falls just a hair short of classic
Quick synopsis: L.A. cops investigate a shooting and unravel a much deeper plot, often blurring the lines between real-life-style crime-fighting and Hollywood-style crime-fighting.
Content: L.A. Confidential is a great ride, even if it's a tad too long. The sprawling cast includes Kevin Spacey, James Cromwell, Kim Basinger, David Strathairn, Danny DeVito, Ron Rifkin, & Simon Baker supporting the main protagonists, played by Crowe and Pearce in the film's best performances. Strathairn and Spacey stand out among the ensemble.
Crowe and Pearce are 2 highly regarded cops that get results with very different methods. In fact, they are polar opposites at the beginning of the film. To Ed Exley (Pearce), there is black, and there is white. To Bud White (Crowe) there are many shades of grey in between. Exley is the guy we love to hate because he would turn in every one of his peers for the slightest rule infraction to put himself ahead. White is the guy we hate to love because of his penchant for losing his temper and blindly following orders he knows to be questionable.
Naturally these men must learn to coexist if they are to solve the mystery of the night owl. This is where an inferior script can go horribly wrong and end up in hollywood cliche hell. But L.A.Confidential goes its own direction.
Without giving anything away, Vincennes (Spacey) plays a much larger role in the beginning of the movie than the end, and it is through his actions that the other 2 men realize that their cases are one in the same. The unification of Exley and White is handled subtley through their mutual acquaintance, Vincennes, who never feels like he is only a plot contrivance to bring them together.
What I have covered thus far could easily be enough to fuel an average cop movie, but this film has so much more to it. Danny DeVito is a headline hungry magazine editor, willing to trade free press to corrupt cops willing to help him catch young hollywood misbehaving. Strathairn runs a smut ring with models that are made to look like hollywood legends (leading to the best moment in the entire movie when Exley and Vincennes happen across a woman dressed like Lana Turner). Vincennes moonlights as an advisor to a television cop show.
The characters are brilliantly complex, each having their own vices. For a while, it is really difficult to distinguish the heroes from the crooks because everyone has their bad side, although the common viewer can relate to each of them. White's weaknesses are that he is used as muscle by corrupt senior officers, and he obeys their orders without question. He also has a wicked temper and a weakness for women in distress. Exley has no friends because he clearly thinks that he is the only cop that is not corrupt. He would pass judgement on his best friend and turn him in, if he had one. Vincennes is buyable for the price of fame; he clearly loves the spotlight. Nevertheless, he wants to do the right thing when presented with a deeper moral conflict.
Each of these characters is so well thought out. They each change noticeably, yet believably during the course of the film. Of course, I haven't even mentioned the major plot point yet because the film spends so much time with its characters. The mystery is a worthy one indeed, which makes the movie that much better. Although I have to admit, it took me 2 or 3 viewings to completely understand all that is going on.
In time, the movie could prove to be a classic, but for now I consider it just below that status.
Rolling Rankings:
1. Pulp Fiction (#8)
1. Pulp Fiction (#8)
2. LA Confidential (#14)
3. Napoleon Dynamite (#5)
4. A Prairie Home Companion (#11)
5. Raising Arizona (#13)
6. The Illusionist (#9)
7. Dr. No (#7)
8. Little Children (#12) 
9. Fahrenheit 9/11 (#10)
10. Heist (#6)
key:
masterpiece excellent good mixed bag more bad than good garbage
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