Verdict:
This movie got genuine laughs out of me a few times and it is not even a comedy.
Essentially, LA Confidential is a movie belonging to 3 men and 1 woman: Kevin Spacey, Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe and Kim Basinger. Kim has been praised and nominated for her role, but frankly, she is the least interesting of the four. Her performance is one-sided: tragic composure. Guy Pearce is in the lead role and fills the role with intelligence and dedication; Russell Crowe provides contrast as a brute force of nature; and Kevin Spacey is charming and brilliant as usual. Spacey is known for playing bad guys but he is even more charismatic in good-guy roles and is the number one reason for seeing this movie.
The setting allows for some atmospheric shots of Los Angeles and Hollywood in the 50’s, complete with cigarette smoke and femme fatales.
The music score, as in so many neo-noir stories, is jazz tinted with the occasional lonely trumpet insisting this is an old timey detective story. After so many years of noir films, it feels like a satire of that genre or like they’re trying too hard, but the movie does change it up and thankfully never goes full Humphrey Bogart on us.
The dialogue is very polished to the point of fakeness. It can get so fast and smart, that it lacks the natural cadence and stupidity found in real human conversations (even more so than in other movies). And the fiery dialogue makes another problem more apparent: actors are hard to understand. There is a lot of mumbling, speaking under one’s breath or speaking with a cigarette in the mouth. Having said that, it all fits the style they are going for.
The biggest issue though is probably with the story. Like many detective stories tend to do, this one has too many layers and turns, requiring more attention from the viewer. This can be something you want, but it can be overwhelming and the aforementioned mumbled speech doesn’t help. Plus, when you finally find out what the motive is, it’s a little disappointing considering all that build-up.
Despite these issues, the film flows so well and is so well-acted that everything else is just dust in the wind. L.A. Confidential shouldn’t be as good as it is, but the performances really pull it above mediocrity.