'Brooklyn's Finest' an overlong cliché

A crowded cast of some of the finest actors in the cinema act the hell out of a gimmicky, episodic, hit-or-miss script in “Brooklyn’s Finest.”

Writer Michael C. Martin delivers great two-handed scenes, dialogue-driven confrontations and simple, everyday-life conversations interspersed with random moments of melodramatic hooey.

Ugliness adorns the cop picture clichés in this overlong “cops in crisis” thriller.

Richard Gere plays a drunken burnout case with seven days to go until retirement.

Don Cheadle is on his game as an undercover officer. He desperately wants a promotion, but will he sell out a childhood pal (Wesley Snipes, terrific) to get it?

Ethan Hawke is an overwhelmed Catholic detective who’s made the fateful decision to shoot and rob drug dealers to save his family.

It goes on and on — over two hours of violence, raunchy sex and streetwise banter to get us to the moment when these three story-threads connect.

Brooklyn’s Finest

Cast: Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes, Ellen Barkin

Director: Antoine Fuqua

Theaters: Go here for showtimes and tickets

Rated: R (for bloody violence throughout, strong sexuality, nudity, drug content and pervasive language)

Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes

GRADE: D+