Gavilan has a partner, K.C. Calden, and Josh Hartnett plays him to perfection. He's handsome, a magnet for beautiful young women and a hothead who shows no fear. Both Gavilan and Calden are moonlighting. Gavilan, who spends more money than he earns, is trying to make a killing as a real estate agent. In a great running gag he's negotiating the sale of an expensive house while chasing criminals (thank goodness for the cell phone). Calden longs to be an actor and is prepping to play Stanley Kowalski in an off-off-everything production of "A Streetcar Named Desire." Gavilan reads lines with him while driving.

Gavilan has a new girlfriend, sexy Ruby, played with cute steaminess by Lena Olin. She has a thing for cops, and is just brushing off a relationship with Gavilan's nemesis, Lt. Bennie Macko (Bruce Greenwood), a crooked cop who's trying to even a score with Gavilan for a prior matter and moving to bust him and Calden on a trumped up accusation of being on the take. Meanwhile, Calden is looking into the glossed over shooting of his policeman dad in a drug bust.

The main quest is to find the killers of four rap artists and the partners from homicide are hot on the trail. Lolita Davidovich has a small but colorful role as Cleo, a Hollywood madam. As for the action, the chases, although a bit too prolonged, are fun, with Gavilan having to resort to a bicycle at one point. The locations are amusing, as the chases make a shambles of Beverly Hills while police helicopters tangle with news helicopters overhead.