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the audience applauded

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

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 thing here is that you'll either get swept up in this delightfully moving family / brutally searing cop drama or think it's manipulative tugging away with its unconvincingly trite plot developments. I would go with the former, but I can see why some might not be entirely taken away by it… especially with its sugar-coated ending.After the tragic death of his detective partner in their quest to crack down on a new wave drug --- Ice. Artie Lewis and his wife end up looking after the decease's three daughters with the possible intention of adopting them. However they're stretching for money and to keep them they have to find a house than living in their small apartment. Hence the dangerous path Artie decides to take to gain the extra doe to keep everyone together.The simple minded mixture of two genres is for most part well balanced and organised in not so a black or white fashion, as it bestows a seamy underbelly with the violence packing a punch (plenty of blood and bruises) and the emotional attachment and complexity weight of a couple trying to cope with the responsibility of looking after three children. Hard at first, but it brings them joy. Nevertheless what really lifted this from the standard material were the solid performances. Michael Keaton's likable easy going persona along with a touching Reno Russo was holding it together. Tony Plana held a vicious intensity to his drug-dealer gangster and Kevin Conway was commanding as Lewis' Ltd. Anthony LaPaglia as his former cop partner is affably good and Benjamin Bratt also shows up as one of his fellow officers. Writer / director Heywood Gould (who co-penned the much underrated revenge feature "Rolling Thunder") drills away in what you could say is sturdily workmanlike, building upon the pressures at home and work. Entertaining, if questionable.

'One Good Cop' is the story of a New York narcotics agent (Michael Keaton) who takes revenge on the city's most powerful drug dealer after his partner of eight years (Anthony LaPaglia) was shot and killed by some goon who was high on the dealer's supply. Unforunately, what may've been a remotely engaging idea turned out to be one hell of a boring cop drama. On the one hand, you have this story of a ballsy cop who is willing to single-handedly take on this dangerous drug dealer and his top level goons. But this plot, which offers incentives for some intense action sequences or at least thriller appeal, is muddled by the other part of the plot which tries to compete for equal, if not more attention. That is, the when the agent's partner was killed, he and his wife (Rene Russo) suddenly find themselves to be the foster parents of that guy's three little girls. So, we have the family bonding sentimental moments, which tend to drag much longer than they should, and really get in the way of anything in the major story (the revenge on the drug dealer) getting accomplished. It takes about fifty minutes for the movie to even get remotely interesting, as they finally show you were the heck this dumb story is going and why the hell you should even watch it. Viewers starting the movie at this point, won't have missed much. Prior to that, there's nothing in the movie to really command your attention. You'd think once a powerful drug dealer felt even the least bit threatened by one narcotic agent working alone (he didn't even seem to be a cop with heavy connections and influence), then he would immediately send out his goons after this guy and family. That would've made an intense story, but no. We have to sit through fifty minutes of one couple trying to bond with three little girls. Who cares?

Michael Keaton and wife Rene Russo want to adopt Anthony LaPaglia's three young daughters after he is killed on duty with partner Keaton by his side in this dull, slow-moving and uninteresting little film. The typical problems arise as the couple need money to move to a larger place before they can legally claim guardianship of the girls. Could this mean that Keaton will get involved in crooked dealings to get the cash they so desperately need? Predictable and amazingly cheap-looking film that just never does generate any drama or real intrigue. 2 stars out of 5.