I'll start it off. L.A. Confidential. First off, I LOVED that movie. I'm a sucker for a good neo noir and I liked the three main men (for the most part). My issue with the movies lies with Bud White (Russell Crowe) and his relationship with Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger), that celebrity actress...model...whatever she was. Is it me, or did they have such a destructive relationship. Bud gave me abuse and stalkerish teas from the start, with his fixation on saving women who were abuse victims. Seemed a bit too self serving, to ease his own guilt, etc. But fine, I can go along with that. He helps women who've been abused because his mother was as well. SO TELL ME WHY THIS MAN THEN GOES AND ABUSES HIS GIRLFRIEND LYNN. I understand that she cheated on him and quite frankly she didn't have a good reason as to why she did it but whyyy on earth would Bud hit her with everything he's been through and seen? THAT was hypocritical to me and confirmed my suspicions. And then what happens? Lynn forgives Bud like *that* and goes back to him and they drive off (literally) into the sunset. What kind of mess? Bud barely apologized. Just acted like his behavior was appropriate. I think Bud preyed on a woman who had low self esteem. The woman was getting plastic surgery to look like old Hollywood movie stars and sleeping with famous men who had those fetishes for money. Of course she did. And then came Bud, who really "saw" her and boom, instant love. That part disgusted me. Actually, let me include Ed Exeley in this as well. If my memory serves me correct, didn't he force a kiss on her the first time he went over to her place? So...the movie just skipped over that and then tried to make it all better by showing Lynn having "consensual" sex with Ed. She did it for the money and Ed exploited her for reasons I still don't understand after watching the movie. What were his motivations in going to her place and forcing that kiss? I always felt that Ed was jealous of Bud and didn't want to stop at gaining the respect/strength had but also the woman. He wanted to take everything. And of course, the movie skips over that part like Ed didn't just sleep with his colleague's girl.

ETA: Oh yeah, I remember all those Ed scenes happened after he'd been digging up info on Lynn. I know he and Bud grew close eventually. Did he sleep with Lynn before that happened or after?