Robert De Niro certainly had better luck with director Michael Caton Jones when they last teamed up for "This Boy's Life". "City By The Sea" feels like a by-the-numbers, formulaic cop movie, a formula De Niro has visited too often by now. The cast does what it can with the material, but there is no hiding the fact that the wonderful Frances McDormand is stranded with an uninteresting character. Rising star James Franco shows potential as De Niro's drug-addicted son, but he does seem to be pushing a bit, especially compared to his more understated co-stars.
Many of the film's intended dramatic high points fall flat. I never did figure out how a body thrown into the ocean on Long Beach could have washed up on the East River, and I confess to joining in with the audience laughter when De Niro opened up to McDormand about his character's history. The dialogue in this scene was appallingly clunky. The film's true villain, as played by the usually reliable William Forsythe, never rises above the level of a stock character.
However, just as I thought the film was going to chug along to a predictable conclusion, I found myself being pulled in by the father's predicament. De Niro is masterful as he pleads with his son to spare himself. We are no longer watching a movie star in too-familiar territory, but are sharing the years of regret that a failed father must rise above to save his cursed son and grandson from ultimate disaster. Nothing in the otherwise superior and similarly themed "Road to Perdition" was as effective as this scene, which contains some of the most moving acting of this great actor's career. It makes the film well worth seeing, although most of what precedes it prevents it from being a must-see.
Many of the film's intended dramatic high points fall flat. I never did figure out how a body thrown into the ocean on Long Beach could have washed up on the East River, and I confess to joining in with the audience laughter when De Niro opened up to McDormand about his character's history. The dialogue in this scene was appallingly clunky. The film's true villain, as played by the usually reliable William Forsythe, never rises above the level of a stock character.
However, just as I thought the film was going to chug along to a predictable conclusion, I found myself being pulled in by the father's predicament. De Niro is masterful as he pleads with his son to spare himself. We are no longer watching a movie star in too-familiar territory, but are sharing the years of regret that a failed father must rise above to save his cursed son and grandson from ultimate disaster. Nothing in the otherwise superior and similarly themed "Road to Perdition" was as effective as this scene, which contains some of the most moving acting of this great actor's career. It makes the film well worth seeing, although most of what precedes it prevents it from being a must-see.