Film Review: CROWN VIC: A Blurry Exploration of Right and Wrong [Tribeca 2019]

Crown Vic Review

Crown Vic (2019) Film Review from the 18th Annual Tribeca Film Festival, a movie directed by Joel Souza, starring David Krumholtz, Thomas Jane, Bridget Moynahan, Josh Hopkins, Luke Kleintank, Scottie Thompson, Emma Ishta, Devon Werkheiser, Faron Salisbury, Alex Morf, Gregg Bello, James Andrew O’Connor, Ginger Graham, Bernard David Jones, and Hannah McKechnie.

Crown Vic follows one night on the job for two LAPD policemen, Ray (Thomas Jane) and Nick (Luke Kleintank). Ray, who has been on the job for 25 years, is beginning a new role as trainer and Nick (Luke Kleintank) is his first rookie; this is Nick’s first night on the job. Throughout the night, Ray dispenses advice on everything from weapon safety to maintaining sanity. In between conversations, the officers- for lack of a better term- fight crime.

I found the film to be unexpectedly captivating. It wasn’t until the action was underway that I realized I had no idea what cops do in their cars in between arresting people (by the way, “Crown Vic” is the nick name for a past model of police car). In contrast with the slew of existing buddy cop stories, the interactions between Ray and Nick actually come across not only realistic but also important. The two characters spend the night processing each encounter they have, whether through discussion of what Nick thinks he might do in certain scenarios or through debriefing of an incident that has just happened. These incidents are sometimes clear-cut crimes, but they increasingly have more and more grey area. Nick, in particular, is forced to question what to do when the letter of the law and a person’s deeply held beliefs about right and wrong aren’t necessarily aligned.

The ability that policemen have to make decisions about right, wrong, and enforcement of law is a topic of intense controversy in today’s political climate. So, while Crown Vic humanizes policemen by portraying Nick and Ray as principled and considerate individuals and this depth contributes positively to the film’s quality, I wondered whether there was an attempt here to express a political message that police have a tough but important job and they think carefully about the actions they take (read: if they do shoot to kill, we should trust that this is their only option). The counterargument is that, while police may believe they have no other choice, those beliefs may be informed by implicit biases. For that reason, I was interested to see whether characters of color were treated with the same nuance as policemen in this movie.

While there is a diversity of race among the criminals, the men of color seem two-dimensional. Many of them have next to no story or dialog, or seem to have no problem being arrested. A short conversation with one caught black man reveals that he’s fine with going to jail because they serve good food and it’s just another place to live. Another black man shouts, “Get this on Facebook Live!” as Ray pins him down. His tone invites the viewer to laugh at this supposedly humorous request, which turns out to be a cover since he is, in fact, guilty. After arresting him, Ray “releas[es him] back into the wild” like an animal. In contrast, the white men who commit crimes make it through the film largely without consequence, or at least with far more agency. Are Crown Vic‘s creators making a commentary about the racially unjust forces of the police, or do they hold- and therefore replicate- these biases themselves? It’s difficult to know, but given conversations about how right and wrong is more blurry than it may seem, it feels like this movie is trying to justify brutal treatment by police of people of color by explaining that the job of the police is hard.

One could argue that this couldn’t be true, because we see two police of color- and they’re women! However, these characters read like model minorities; they have no personalities or character arcs and their entire job is to dutifully, perfectly, and without question carry out the (unlawful though “right”) actions that Ray asks of them. Indeed, the portrayal of women is pretty dismal in this movie too. The three women with the most screen time are all not just breaking the law but also insane, often in stereotypically female ways. In one show of utter laziness on the part of this film’s writers, the first female picked up by Nick and Ray- Ally (Emma Ishta)- who is extremely drunk, is carted off while screaming “But I’m from Newport Beach!”, the classic valley girl. Another woman, Claire (Scottie Thompson) is portrayed as crazy and paranoid and her moment in the spotlight inexplicably ends with her flashing Nick. The purpose of her nudity for the film’s plot is unclear.

I was interested in Crown Vic‘s story and its characters and I appreciated a nuanced conversation about the difficult decisions that police officers have to make. However, I’m uncomfortable with the film’s stereotypical portrayals of marginalized groups. Crown Vic‘s attempts to complicate the role of the police are overshadowed by these signs of bias, and I’m left taking the film’s overall message with a great deal of skepticism.

Rating: 7/10