3 out of 5

Director: David Mamet

Either you can tolerate David Mamet’s wordplay or you can’t. Homicide initially begins as a police drama, delving into some of the bothersome politics that are assumedly everyday fare for members of the force. It shows these procedures in documentary fashion, without wild camera tricks or quick edits, and allows the scenes to continue on and sensibly tie to the next scene, via some amazingly blunt and quick dialogue and smart plot devices. But Joe Mantegna’s Bobby Gold soon gets distracted from a larger case by what appears to be a simple robbery, and here the film gets “distracted” into a commentary on heritage, and what it means in terms of Who We Are. Of course, this is Mamet, so this new direction of the plot is part of the confidence game he inserts in many of his movies. But it just didn’t flow for me this time. Mamet’s play-paced dialogue and scene layouts are crackling as always, I just couldn’t quite piece together his intentions with the film. It’s an involving view, and superbly acted, but a bit of a downer, and not puzzling so much as wandering. I think better seen as a companion piece to his works in general as opposed to a standalone film.