The glitter dome is probably Wambaugh at his most sleazy and cynical. It is hilariously funny but even jaded readers might need a shower afterwards. Given that you have a comedy involving hard drugs, pedophilia, prostitution, child murders and incompetent corrupt alcoholic cops the casting seems like a weird choice. Garner and Margolin are certainly known for comedy, but generally of the light harmless variety (Rockford Files, Maverick) where gunshots always miss and women and children always come away unharmed. Although cast against type, Garner does a decent job here as the corrupt boozehound detective Mackey. Lithgow is given a lot more to work with as his neurotic repressed partner who is in the midst of a psychological melt down due to various personal and professional problems. Lithgow actually does an excellent job and gives probably the most standout performance in the entire film.
I will hand it to Margolin he didn't hold back, the movie is very faithful to the nasty sleazy source material and he manages to handle the delicate balance of revolting sleaze and wacky comedy pretty well, though I can understand why many viewers may be put off by the tone, the book also had a sort of scizophrenic feel to it. The only thing I didn't like was that it sort of mangled a few important plot points (how they discover rollerskating pornographer "Mr Wheels" makes a lot more sense in the book) and it jettisons altogether some of the novel's funnier side plots to instead focus on the mystery and also the romance plot. However that is to be expected given that the novel is relatively long and complex with many characters and different plot threads that eventually all intersect to help resolve the mystery.
Overall I was pretty impressed with this film, it's an HBO movie from the era before HBO Films was synonymous with prestige. During the 1980s they were mostly known for making somewhat seedy cheap thrillers like The Hitcher, Apology, or Cast a Deadly Spell. I dont think this film has ever been released on DVD but you can find it bootlegged online from VHS sources and maybe even a find a VHS kicking around on ebay somewhere. I say check it out!
Overall I was pretty impressed with this film, it's an HBO movie from the era before HBO Films was synonymous with prestige. During the 1980s they were mostly known for making somewhat seedy cheap thrillers like The Hitcher, Apology, or Cast a Deadly Spell. I dont think this film has ever been released on DVD but you can find it bootlegged online from VHS sources and maybe even a find a VHS kicking around on ebay somewhere. I say check it out!