Memorable, crazy movie

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

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

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

While "The Beat" undoubtedly had some problems, I think it could have gone on to be a hit. And despite the fact that its format similar to shows like "Hill Street Blues," "Homicide," and "NYPD Blue," it was also unique in a way: Going from film to video (the latter of which was used during the characters' on-duty scenes) and vice versa. It also looked more hip than other "semi-serial" shows of its ilk.UPN had a good chance to have a "Homicide" or "Hill Street Blues" of its own. I would like to have seen the network keep it on the air a little longer so that it could find an audience that would stick with the show. When I first saw the show on its March 2000 debut, I liked it right away, and kept watching it until its premature demise nearly two months later.Despite its flaws, this "Beat" could have gone on for five or six years.