Deep Cover (1992) review

Having witnessed his drug addict father gunned down as a child, Russell (Laurence Fishburne) decides to become a police officer as an adult, and gets recruited by DEA Agent Carver (Charles Martin Smith) to go undercover to expose a drug ring led by Barbossa (Gregory Sierra) and Gallegos (Arthur Mendoza), becoming "pals" with amoral lawyer David (Jeff Goldblum) along the way.  There is something compelling about an individual growing up around crime and then making a career out of trying to prevent it - and something even more telling about his admitting that dealing drugs is considerably easier than being a cop - but it never strays too far away from the pre-established formula to become truly unique, and it's quite corny when it thinks it's being serious (time hasn't treated it particularly well).  Goldblum is the real oddball in the mix, but even he's relatively tame considering how he's grown more eccentric over the years - imagine how he'd play it right now in 2022.  Actually, now that I think of it, that would be amazing to see....