One Good Cop (1991)

The Worst Film Ever

Nice effects though.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I saw this first in the theater and a dozen times since. It's ONE OF BEST MOVIES I'VE EVER SEE. It should have won the Oscar for BEST PICTURE. It should have at least been Nominated because it is far more interesting than AWAKENINGS and it rivaled GHOST for the most sentimental offering but without the mushy fantasy. Michael Keaton and Rene Russo are at their best as Artie and Rita Lewis. Artie is a NYC cop whose long-time partner Stevie, played by Anthony Lapaglia, is killed in action. Since their mother had already passed away some time ago, Stevie had been raising his three little girls on his own. Artie and Rita had never been able to have children of their own and the girls have already bonded to their father's closest friends, "Uncle" Artie and "Aunt" Rita. Emotionally, it seems like a match made in heaven, but in the real world things are never that easy. SOCIAL SERVICES steps in does what government does best, screw everything up. Despite Stevie being like a brother to his partner, Artie and Rita are not relatives and their apartment is far too small and deemed "unsuitable" both of which prohibit any chance of gaining custody of the girls. Therefore, the three girls, who are precious even though the oldest one is sassy, cynical and overprotective of her two little sisters (I'm just guessing their ages 10, 8, and 4) will go into foster care and be split up. So Keaton comes up with a desperate plan to keep the girls and take down some bad guys at the same time. This puts Artie in the cross-hairs of both the bad guys and the cops. He risks his freedom and his life to make a better life for those little girls. Does he go too far? Is doing something illegal, even for a good cause, ever OK? Decide for yourself. To ME, Artie Lewis is ONE GOOD COP.

I've always liked Michael Keaton, and for some reason, he's not around as much as he once was, which is a shame."One Good Cop" from 1991 is the story of a cop, Artie Lewis (Keaton) who loses his partner Stevie of eight years (Anthony LaPaglia) during a shootout. He's devastated. Then he learns that in Stevie's will, he made Artie and his wife Rita (Rene Russo) the guardians of his three daughters. They move into Artie's small apartment. As guardian, he is responsible for the children's' well-being, but they can go into foster care and ultimately be adopted. Since Artie and Rita don't have a lot of money, this seems a good solution. But Rita was unable to have children, and now she wants to keep the girls. Artie makes a decision that could have disastrous results.This movie was okay, with some good performances by the principals, as well as Kevin Conway, Rachel Ticotin, Benjamin Bratt, and Tony Plana.This easily could have been made for television were it not for Keaton and Russo being attached to it. It's a decent rental.

MICHAEL KEATON is a great actor hes one of them actors you forget you are watching a movie & think its real life video footage. kinda like NICK NOLTE - GARY OLDMAN - PETER STORMARE but anyways KEATON plays a COP who when his partner is killed in the line of duty who had 3 kids he doesn't want them to be in an orphanage but his house is too small by SOCIAL SERVICES standards to house 3 kids so he robs a drug kingpin who indirectly had something to do with his partners murder so he can buy a bigger house so he can adopt his partners 3 kids & he gives the rest of the money to the orphanage he didn't want his partners 3 kids to go to in order to help the other kids their. they say even criminals have right & a COP is supposed to go by the book but sometimes you gotta just say what the F#@k & do what you gotta do

In my opinion, this film is one of the most underrated action films of the nineties. Although it received some fairly good reviews by the critics, it was not very well publicized considering the quality cast. I would rate it as one of my top 100 all-time action films. The majority of IMDb voters appear to disagree with that evaluation. I believe this is related to two major factors. The first factor being the lack of hype for the film, as demonstrated by the fact that there were less than 1,000 IMDb votes cast for this film as compared with two other action films released the same year. Backdraft and Point Break each had in excess of 16,000 IMDb votes cast and received significantly higher evaluations. I believe that both of these films are excellent action movies, but I also believe that this film is every bit as exciting as those films and contains some intriguing elements that the others do not posses. The second factor is that many younger male viewers are turned on by non-stop action films with multiple shoot outs or demolition derby type car chase scenes. This film has a few action packed scenes but also takes the time to present a tender family oriented story. The IMDb voting demographics indicate the lowest rating for this film was provided by male voters in the 18 to 29 age group which appears to validate this theory.The film tells an emotional police story and explores the personal life of a police detective who struggles to provide a family life for the young daughters of his slain ex-partner. Although primarily an action movie, the film has several heart warming moments as it explores why individuals sometimes do the wrong things when motivated by the right reasons. Michael Keaton as the detective, Renee Ruso as his wife and Anthony LaPaglia as his partner all give strong performances which draw viewers into the emotional drama. Rachel Ticotin's character development is also key to the presentation.In my opinion an IMDb rating of between 5 and 9 would be justified for this intense police drama. I personally gave it an 8 out of 10 and would recommend it for male viewers looking for a rental to view with their wife or date. This date night type film, contains elements which should entertain both genders.