Simply A Masterpiece

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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.

'One Good Cop' is an amazing film in all respects. Written & Directed by Heywood Gould, 'One Good Cop' opens beautifully & ends the same.A underrated film, it deserved to be 1991's Top Grossing film. Apart from being an amazing film, one gets to see our-now-legend Michael Keaton in an outstanding performance. It's sad to know that people watch a film like 'Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen' more than watching an honest attempt like this which released way back, and didn't get it's due.The drama, the action, the emotional quotient... everything has been balanced beautifully. A complete film! 'One Good Cop' is not to be missed. An outstanding film! Two Thumbs Up!

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.

This could have been a good plot had the screenplay wanted to delve deeply into the terrain of conflicted morals; instead of taking it for granted that we accept that the events that happen are the result of a man following his only logical option. It's utterly manipulative and trite film-making, with everybody concerned thinking that they can just throw us some closeups of big doe eyes, and we'll suddenly forget that this is NOT action taken by those wanting to claim superior motivation.If you're driven to pursue illegality, then chances are you're desperate, but do you have to be boneheaded about it, too? Why not try to get some of your colleagues onside in the scheme? In for a penny in for a pound, after all... That would of course eliminate your 'lone man in search of justice' angle, but at least it would make more sense, instead of feeling like a dupe, which unfortunately seems to be the practice of the whole tale."One Good Cop" is suffocatingly mawkish. Were it not for the violence and improperly used talent involved, it could easily pass for a dreary teledrama instead of a fully-fledged motion picture. It's trying to convince us that it has a singular approach; but the reality is that its type is nothing but bland and needlessly ubiquitous, which is a far more depressing snapshot of how life and the movie business works than any of the faux emotions tossed our way here.