Rampart (2011) (Sunday, February 12, 2012) (153)

Rampart is Oren Moverman's sophomore film, and as with many second efforts, it's a bit of a mess. Well, really, it's a lot of a mess. It takes place in 1999 in Los Angeles where a super cop, David Brown (Woody Harrelson), has made a bad name for himself in his precinct, the Rampart Division near Downtown. He has a reputation as a badass for allegedly killing a man who was a serial date rapist ten years earlier. He lives in the garage behind the house of his ex-wives who are sisters (Cynthia Nixon and Anne Heche) and has a hard time connecting to his two daughters (one by each wife). He seems to be a sex addict and a drunk incapable of getting his life together and walking a straight line.

At some point he is videotaped beating a man after a short chase and his career is threatened. He then gets into more shit when he gets into another altercation. Just when it seems his situation can't get worse, as he's being investigated by internal affairs agent Ice Cube, he begins an affair with the ex-lawyer of the man he is accused of killing years ago.

The script, co-written by Moverman and James Ellroy (he knows LA cop stuff, right?!), is a total mess. I can't easily summarize what happens in the film because its direction changes three times in the second act. At some point it seems like a Bad Lieutenant-type melodrama, at others it seems like a ripped-from-the-headlines Rodney King-style story, at other times like a Leaving Las Vegas-style tale of entropy. There are about a dozen characters with a decent amount of screen time who are ultimately totally unnecessary to the film (including former Harrelson's co-star from Moverman's last film Ben Foster, playing a homeless veteran who has something to do with giving info as a narc).

I feel like there are enough good things in this film that if it had been rewritten and recut it could be a good film (take out 30 minutes and it would be an interesting and small piece). In its current form, however, it is a messy and overflowing heap of stories that don't really connect or lead anywhere interesting.

Stars: 1.5 of 4