'Golden Boy' review: NYPD blah

He is offered any job he wants in the department, and chooses homicide. The hitch -- he's marked by a rival, Det. Christian Arroyo (Kevin Alejandro), as an upstart who needs to be knocked down; in Clark's corner is Det. Don Owen (Chi McBride), his partner who teaches him some valuable lessons in office politics. Meanwhile, Det. Deborah McKenzie (Bonnie Somerville) views the squad room squabbling at a bemused distance.

A good actor with Adonis looks, James simply can't project what he needs to project -- a hard case with laser-focus ambition. That's one gripe. Here's another. "Golden Boy" is basically a well-crafted procedural -- Nicolas Wootton ("NYPD Blue"), who created and produces, knows his way around this formula better than just about anyone alive -- that is tethered to a gimmick that doesn't particularly add anything to the core narrative.

It's kind of like the cop version of "How I Met Your Mother": We know how this ends (he becomes commish) but there's little evidence suggesting how or why that happens, and even less reason why we should care. Meanwhile, the best stuff in "Golden Boy" is the little stuff -- sharp, brittle dialogue, nice performances and a street cred that's a cut above average.

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