Review: City by the Sea


Homicide cop Robert De Niro, whose father was a convicted child killer, investigates the death of a low-level drug dealer, revisiting his home turf of Long Beach in the process. But before he has time to wax nostalgic, De Niro realises he has greater problems; His estranged, drug-addicted son (James Franco) is the main suspect! Now De Niro finds himself weighing his responsibilities of upholding the law with the responsibilities of being a father, the latter is something he has so far been terrible at. Patti LuPone is De Niro’s embittered ex who doesn’t want his help, Frances McDormand is his patient new love interest, George Dzundza is his buddy on the force, and Eliza Dushku is Franco’s junkie girlfriend (trying to go straight, of course) and mother of his child.



Well-intentioned, but entirely flat and strangely uninvolving 2002 Michael Caton-Jones (the overrated “Rob Roy”, and the much better “This Boy’s Life”) film scores somewhat, whenever it focuses on Franco (in a thoroughly convincing performance, the guy could be Monty Clift if he weren’t so bad at choosing scripts) and Dushku (some of her best work) struggling to make it work day to day, rather than the tired and contrived main plot.



The whole thing is so damn low-key until acting titan De Niro (in one of his lesser performances), goes completely overboard towards the end, and it becomes truly embarrassing. Scenes of Franco in drug hell and running away from scuzzy bad guy William Forsythe seem a lot more realistic than the rest of the film (despite it being based somewhat on true characters) which struggles to convey its theme of failed father-son relationships within a clichéd cop thriller plot. It also doesn’t help that De Niro’s character isn’t terribly engaging, and talented actors like McDormand and Dzundza are horribly wasted.



A De Niro dud, I’m afraid, an all-too frequent occurrence these days. Under-baked screenplay by Ken Hixon (“Inventing the Abbotts”), based on an article by Michael McAlary.



Rating: C

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