"Internal Affairs" is a cop thriller with a theme that has become overly familiar lately — the most recent being "Sea of Love" — in which an investigating detective in pursuit of a vicious killer begins to take on the killer's tendencies. The fine line between good and evil has been crossed.
But the difference with "Internal Affairs" is that it's so off-the-wall, with such a weird story, that in places it seems to be taking on darkly comic tendencies.
Unfortunately, that aspect never takes off, so we're left instead with a preposterously trashy thriller that simply becomes more ludicrous as it goes along.
Richard Gere has top billing, but relative newcomer Andy Garcia actually plays the lead character. Garcia, best known for his police sidekick roles in "Black Rain" and "The Untouchables," is an officer in the Los Angeles County Police Department who becomes the newest member of the Internal Affairs Division, the cops who police the cops.
When Garcia and his partner (Laurie Metcalf) investigate a young street cop (William Baldwin), they find he has a drug problem, abuses his wife and steals drugs from the dealers he busts. But Garcia also begins to suspect that Baldwin's partner, the most respected street cop on the force, with many friends and the department's top arrest record, may also be on the take. That's Richard Gere's character.
The credibility factor begins to drop off rapidly as we see that Gere is supporting three ex-wives, his current wife and eight children . . . oh, yes, and one on the way. He's also sleeping with other cops' wives, local prostitutes and just about every other woman in L.A. County. And he's, of course, involved in several levels of shady dealings so thick it's hard to believe he's never been the subject of investigation before.
He has so many friends on the force because he does favors and later calls them in on a regular basis. And he's a charming and convincing talker, so that he can get anyone to do just about anything.
Besides being a hedonistic manipulator, however, he's also psychotic and isn't above murdering even his best friend, right after sleeping with his wife, of course. (He also never seems to arrest anyone — in fact, he forces a fellow officer to let a prostitute go. How did he get such an impressive arrest record?)
To say "Internal Affairs" is contrived is to understate, but it's also an incredibly cruel film with a misogynistic streak. Women here are strictly disposable sex objects, with one exception — Metcalf, who is revealed early on to be a lesbian.
Director Michael Figgis, who also co-wrote the film's music, makes his American film debut here. He is best known for last year's "Stormy Monday," which fared better. But "Internal Affairs" is all stylish visuals and no substance whatsoever. That may be an attempt to hide the silliness of Henry Bean's first-time screenplay, but it doesn't work.
Gere is very good here, with subtle shadings that give his character some interest, but Garcia is perhaps a bit too intense. In his early scenes he almost seems to be doing a Joe Friday "Dragnet" spoof. And William Baldwin does well with some flashy business as Gere's doomed partner.
Laurie Metcalf, who also plays a cop as Roseanne Barr's sister in the hit TV show "Roseanne," is very good in a sketchily written role. Nancy Travis is attractive in the usual wife-as-victim role but has little to do. Likewise, Richard Bradford, as Garcia and Metcalf's boss, has a few early blustering moments, then virtually disappears.
"Internal Affairs" is rated R for violence, sex, nudity, profanity, vulgarity and drug use, all in abundance.