Un bon flic

Not at all what I was expecting. The title and movie poster suggest a straight NY police procedural -- or at least the one good cop out of the whole corrupt department.

Nope. The movie sees Michael Keaton lose his partner in the line of duty and try to raise the now-orphaned children. This is while he's also trying to take down a drug kingpin, but it's that Mr. Mom angle and split focus that's distracting.

The movie also engineers a reason for him to break bad, which feels forced, as well as the "but wait!" ending in the service of the family drama.

I dunno, maybe I was disappointed that Rachel Ticotin didn't have more to do. It's just that the cop stuff was so much more interesting. They certainly put some real effort into the melee right scenes, there's some nice grit there.

Keaton's fantastic as usual, and the supporting players are all strong, no complaints there. It's just scattered.

As usual, Michael Keaton delivers an excellent performance. Whether the scene calls for humor, pathos or action, he's your man every time. I watch his face and body language closely in every one of his films, and he is always up to the demands of every role. He is as good an actor as any of the most celebrated stars, past or present, but is underappreciated. Also note his loyalty (or that of others to him), in employing the same people for assistance in many or most films. This is a guy who will bring you to tears with laughter or sadness, just in the way he portrays the character. His scene in his superior's office when he thought his career (and life as he'd known it) were over, was excellent - subtle, but he brought out how a person in the position would feel. Yes, this is a light movie, but heavy on quality, because of Michael Keaton. I'll continue to watch, enjoy and be amazed at his work, time after time.

This is an excellent movie that surprised me at every turn. It felt like watching someones real life, with up and downs and real decisions. One Good Cop is an uplifting story about a good person with difficult decisions to make. After the death of his partner Keaton and his wife (Rene Russo) are given custody of his three girls. Keaton cannot afford three kids and foster care will split the kids up. The decision that Keaton makes is brutal but for people who are desperate sometimes something brutal is the only solution. I had never heard of this movie before but it has become one of my favorites. Michael Keaton gives a great performance the entire way through. This is a 4 for 4 star movie.

MICHAEL KEATON is a great actor hes one of them actors you forget you are watching a movie & think its real life video footage. kinda like NICK NOLTE - GARY OLDMAN - PETER STORMARE but anyways KEATON plays a COP who when his partner is killed in the line of duty who had 3 kids he doesn't want them to be in an orphanage but his house is too small by SOCIAL SERVICES standards to house 3 kids so he robs a drug kingpin who indirectly had something to do with his partners murder so he can buy a bigger house so he can adopt his partners 3 kids & he gives the rest of the money to the orphanage he didn't want his partners 3 kids to go to in order to help the other kids their. they say even criminals have right & a COP is supposed to go by the book but sometimes you gotta just say what the F#@k & do what you gotta do

Michael Keaton is good, as usual, in the role of Artie Lewis, an NYPD detective who must endure one of the time-honoured cliches of the cop drama: the death of his partner (Anthony LaPaglia). However, LaPaglia was the single dad to three adorable daughters, and in his will he had given custody of the girls to Artie and his wife (Rene Russo). They do prove to be good parental figures (she'd been unable to bear her own children), but all of the problems facing them (inadequate housing for the new family, and a supposed dearth of funds) prompt Artie to do something crooked for once: rob a drug dealer (an effectively smooth and slimy Tony Plana).

The script by veteran screenwriter Heywood Gould ("Rolling Thunder", "Fort Apache, the Bronx") has its share of problems; not only is it predictable and manipulative, but it's scarcely believable. Too many story twists are hard to buy, especially that ridiculous ending. The film is still reasonably entertaining in a visceral way, and Gould maintains an effective forward momentum; Keaton and his excellent supporting cast are so compulsively watchable that they compensate for a fair bit. "One Good Cop" has some decent action, and violence, and makes good use of some NYC locations.

Keaton is compelling in the lead. While you may not always find his character credible, there's no doubt that the star will always be able to do some true heavy lifting, both comedically and dramatically. The rest of the cast plays like a who's who of Hollywood players: Russo, LaPaglia, Kevin Conway, Rachel Ticotin, Plana, Benjamin Bratt, Charlayne Woodard, Victor Rivers, Mike Hagerty, J.E. Freeman, Kevin Corrigan, Vondie Curtis-Hall, etc.

Highly recommended to Michael Keaton fans, even in light of the flaws.

Six out of 10.