| CITY BY THE SEA Rating:   Director: Michael Caton-Jones Producers: Matthew Baer, Michael Caton-Jones, Brad Grey, Elie Samaha Writer: Ken Hixon Director of Photography: Karl Walter Lindenlaub Cast: Robert De Niro, Frances McDormand, James Franco Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew |
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Review by: Curtis
Raines
9/08/02
Have you ever been so hungry that a bowl of cereal tastes as good as steak and lobster? Well, that feeling pretty much sums up my summer experience at the movies. It's been a summer of bad plots, bad acting and bad ideas. So I bit my tongue as I sat through movies like Pluto Nash, Serving Sara, Debbie Does Dallas VII and just hoped that I would see some merit of good filmmaking soon.
I decided to clear my thoughts of the Vin Diesels and Eddie Murphys of the world and go into City by the Sea with a hungry, free mind. I wasn't about to let my desperate need for a decent flick influence my opinion of this film. But being a huge Robert De Niro and Michael Caton-Jones (This Boy's Life) fan, it wasn't gonna be easy. And as I shoved down my popcorn at a record setting pace during the previews, it suddenly hit me: I can't remember the last good De Niro film. Showtime? No, horrible. 15 Minutes? You gotta be kidding me? Rocky and Bullwinkle, Men of Honor, The Score -- oh no! Suddenly I went from trying to be objective in not favoring the movie, to trying to keep an open mind about not hating it. But when it was all said and done, I breathed a sigh of relief in knowing that De Niro still can act his ass off. Or maybe I breathed out a big sigh of relief because the one pound bag of popcorn I had gorged myself with was finally empty. Either way, I was pleased with what I had just viewed.
De Niro plays Vincent LaMarca, a New York cop whose dad had been executed for murder forty years earlier. He's a good cop with a notorious name who lives by the law. His son, Joey Nova (James Franco), is a strung out junkie looking for a fix when a fight turns deadly and the blood is on Joey's hands. Vincent finds himself torn between being a cop and being the father to a son that he had abandoned many years before. He may not know his son anymore, but he knows that he's not a monster, so Vincent puts aside the facts of the case and sets out to find the truth and clear the LaMarca family name.
The strongest part of this film is definitely the relationship between Vincent and his son. In fact, the movie's main flaw is that it takes more than half the film before it starts to explore it. I'll admit, it's slow to develop, but once the pieces are in place (about half way through), it finishes with a bang. It's a simple premise that lets character development carry the load. De Niro gives his best performance since the last time Caton-Jones and he teamed up in This Boy's Life. And if James Franco is not a strung out junkie in real life, well he definitely should be, because he's got that role down pat. Even Francis McDormand is on top of her game as De Niro's love interest. But best of all, William Forsythe, decked out in a mullet haircut and biker clothing, steals the show with his performance as Spyuder, the local drug dealer. Of course, any character with a mullet is gonna be a favorite of mine. And I gotta say, if you can find a movie with four strong performances, you're usually in good shape.
One thing that annoys me is that the previews
make this out to be a tense cop thriller. But really the plot
is just a way to bring these characters together. I guess De Niro
as a New York tough cop is a better selling tool than De Niro
as an emotionally torn father. Is this a groundbreaking film that's
provocative and existential? No. It is what it is: a movie that
explores what it's like when a tragic situation forces a family
together again. Don't expect things blowing up or corvettes flying
off bridges either, but what you should expect is to think --
a real rarity in movie watching these days.
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