'BROWN'S REQUIEM' MOVES AT DEADLY PACE FOR FILM NOIR.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

Film noir as self help?

Odd as that may sound, it figures in the genesis of ``Brown's Requiem.'' It's the first novel written by the self-styled demon dog of crime fiction James Ellroy (``L.A. Confidential'') and the feature directing debut of adapter Jason Freeland. Working on this tale of alcoholic detectives, endemic corruption and golf apparently had a therapeutic effect on both the author and the auteur's struggles with their own addictions.

And not unlike a personal growth regimen, the resulting movie has its worthy aspects but is rather parched and tedious. Employing several elements that worked better in the neo-noir masterpiece ``Chinatown'' does not invite kind comparisons, either.

Michael Rooker, still best known as the title psycho of ``Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer,'' gives good, hard-boiled narration as troubled gumshoe Fritz Brown. An ex-LAPD officer who was drummed off of the force because his drinking problem didn't mix with a department image-cleanup campaign, he's bitterly sober now, repossessing cars for a living and running a cruddy little P.I. agency on the side.

An obese, eccentric caddy named Fat Dog (``Mad TV's'' William Sasso) hires Brown to check out his 17-year-old sister Jane (Selma Blair), a piano student who's living with elderly sugar daddy Solly K (Harold Gould). Brown discovers that Solly's involved in something that requires bribing Cathcart (Brion James), the police captain who got him fired. Then Brown gets beaten by thugs for associating with Fat Dog. He knows better than to continue with the case - ``A lifetime in L.A. taught me to never take anything at face value, except money,'' the voice-over goes, wised-upedly. But by then, of course, it's personal.

Rooker does a number of scenes with a bandanna bandage wrapped around his temple; it's not as cool as Nicholson's nose stitches. Brown also has a younger, alcoholic cousin to co-depend on and feel guilty about. He's alternately folksy and brutal, vulnerable and sarcastic, on and off the wagon. But despite these and other attempts to engage us, this flawed knight errant never really makes us care about him or about the haphazard array of fine moral points he supposedly holds dear.

There is a whole lot of walking and talking to various lowlife types. A road trip to Baja finally results in some gunplay and a corpse with a detachable arm. But by then the movie has been too dreary for too long to drum up much excitement.

Well-crafted in its low-key manner, the main fault with ``Brown's Requiem'' is its dirgelike pacing. I know that's how a requiem is supposed to be, but guess what? Movies operate on different rhythms than music does.

Glad Ellroy and Freeland are feeling better, though.

The facts

--The film: ``Brown's Requiem'' (not rated; violence, language, racism).

--The stars: Michael Rooker, William Sasso, Selma Blair, Harold Gould, Brion James, Valerie Perrine.

--Behind the scenes: Written and directed by Jason Freeland, based on James Ellroy's novel. Produced by Tim Youd and David Scott Rubin. Released by Avalanche Releasing.

--Running time: One hour, 44 minutes.

--Playing: AMC Media Center 8, Burbank; Los Feliz 3, Los Feliz.

--Our rating: Two and one half stars

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Selma Blair plays a teen-age piano student, whose big brother hires an ex-police officer to spy on her in ``Brown's Requiem.''