Dirty chronicles a day in the life of a corrupt Black L.A.P.D. cop and his slightly less corrupt Hispanic partner.  The comparisons to the Denzel Washington vehicle Training Day will be obvious with this one, and rightfully so as Dirty shamefully steals from that, and about a dozen or so other films.

Academy Award winner Cuba Gooding Jr. is officer Salim Adel and Clifton Collins Jr. is officer Armando Sanchez.  They are part of the LAPD’s gang control unit whose job, it would seem, is the willful murder of gang members.  While in the process of murdering a couple of gang bangers, one of the cops kills a senile old man who looks like he was reaching for his heat.  Officer Sanchez is wracked with guilt and decides its time pull the curtain on the gang unit and has a 6:00PM meeting with Internal Affairs to spill the beans.  Making it from that morning to the evening meeting will prove to be quite the challenge however as there are drugs to steal, lost suburbanites to harass, little chicas to molest, corrupt cops (yes, even more corrupt than they) to avoid, Jamaican Gangsters to cater to, Barrio Gangsters to flee from and so  much  more.  Oh, it’s gonna be a helluva day. 

This movie is never so bad that it’s unwatchable, and truth be told, I found it fairly entertaining, but that doesn’t change the fact that this film is a mess.  Blame can be laid at the feet of a script that doesn’t know whether it’s coming or going.  In it’s attempts to squeeze in so many different levels of bad behavior, not a single one gets adequately explored enough for us to care about it.  Blame can also be laid at the feet

feet of director Chris Fisher who has seen one to many episodes of 24.  A shaky handheld camera is one thing, a cameraman with a nervous condition is another.  Shaky camerawork doesn’t necessarily equate into gritty scenes.  Invest in a tripod Chris.  Some of the blame can be laid at the feet of star Cuba Gooding Jr.  Though it’s no Snow Dogs or Chill Factor… or Boat Trip… damn Cuba, but Mr. Gooding jr. does seem lack some of the authenticity required to adequately play the thug rouge cop.  He has his moments, mind you, but to say that he’s over the top may be understating his performance greatly. 

So this is a poorly filmed, over-plotted, over acted silly mix between Training Day and The Sixth Sense (Office Sanchez sees dead people.  Everywhere).  Yet it doesn’t completely suck.  Why?  Because it’s deliciously trashy, that’s why.  The story, though ridiculous, does shimmy right along at a good pace and some of the fringe characters, especially Wyclef’s subtitled Rasta Gangsta, are over the top funny.  It’s incredibly violent, outlandishly profane, but in an inexcusable omission, there are no gratuitous breasts!  What’s up with that?  It even has an obligatory scene is a strip club, but the strippers are like, wearing clothes!  BOOOOO!

Despite that glaring omission, if you want to take a walk on your guilty pleasure side, Dirty will fill the bill nicely.  You M-F, N-word, B!