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No Crown for Street Kings

Cop flick puts overwrought machismo on display

By Caroline Zimmerman,  Newser User

Posted Apr 11, 2008 9:59 AM CDT

(Newser) Street Kings doesn't get a lot of love from critics, who say it resorts at times to the worst of cop-flick cliches. Keanu Reeves plays a cold-hearted, vodka-swigging LA vice cop who's hunting down his former partner's murderers. And while screenwriter James Ellroy's pulp machismo has worked before, here Reeves comes off "like the host of an infomercial trying to do the impersonation of a badass," writes Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly

Street Kings is a tired reiteration of a familiar morality tale—"the one righteous dude who gets his hands dirty operating outside of the law," writes Tim Grierson of the Village Voice. But then again, the LA underworld provides some "bigger than big emotions," according to the New York Times' Manohla Dargis. "It keeps you watching, really watching, all the way to the end."

Cast member Keanu Reeves attends the premiere of Street Kings Thursday, April 3, 2008 in Los Angeles.
Cast member Keanu Reeves attends the premiere of "Street Kings" Thursday, April 3, 2008 in Los Angeles.   (AP Photo/Phil McCarten)
In this image released by Fox Searchlight Pictures, Keanu Reeves is shown in a scene from the film, Street Kings.
In this image released by Fox Searchlight Pictures, Keanu Reeves is shown in a scene from the film, "Street Kings".   (Associated Press)
Cast member Forest Whitaker, left, and wife Keisha attend the premiere of Street Kings Thursday, April 3, 2008 in Los Angeles.
Cast member Forest Whitaker, left, and wife Keisha attend the premiere of "Street Kings" Thursday, April 3, 2008 in Los Angeles.   (AP Photo/Phil McCarten)
Actor Keanu Reeves waits for his interview on the NBC Today television program, in New York's Rockefeller Center, Wednesday April 9, 2008.  Reeves co-stars in the new movie Street Kings.
Actor Keanu Reeves waits for his interview on the NBC "Today" television program, in New York's Rockefeller Center, Wednesday April 9, 2008. Reeves co-stars in the new movie "Street Kings."   (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
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