City by the Sea
review by Melissa Prusi

Who wants out of this movie?

City by the Sea is a perfect example of how a weak script can make everything that comes after inconsequential. It has an intriguing premise, an evocative setting, solid direction and terrific performances by a cast of old pros and strong new talent, but it's undermined by a heavy-handed, talky screenplay that holds little suspense or surprise.

City by the Sea is the story of New York City cop Vincent LaMarca (Robert DeNiro). A murder case leads him back to Long Beach, a seaside community, now in decline, where he grew up. Among the ruins of this once thriving tourist town, Vincent is forced to confront the wreckage of his own past when he learns that his estranged son Joey is also his prime suspect.

Let's start with the good news. The cast is across-the-board excellent. DeNiro gives his usual strong performance as a man so haunted by his past that he's afraid to form any but the most casual of relationships. Frances McDormand brings depth and intelligence to the role of his conveniently located downstairs neighbor/girlfriend.

But you expect great work from those two. The revelations were James Franco as Joey and Eliza Dushku as his girlfriend, Gina. Franco, who didn't impress me much with his bland performance in Spiderman, here transforms himself into a strung-out junkie. His jittery desperation and doomed self-loathing are compelling to watch and he manages to win the audience's sympathy, if just barely. Dushku shines as a young woman who is trying with all her might to turn her life around but has a knack for making the wrong choices. Both these young actors more than hold their own with DeNiro, no small feat.

Director Michael Caton-Jones effectively stages all this anguish against the decrepit remains of a once happy, prosperous vacation spot. It's the kind of city Bruce Springsteen might sing about and it provides an apt symbol for the damage neglect can do, to places and relationships.

Unfortunately, the movies strengths are squandered in the service of a cliché-ridden script with uninspired dialogue and little narrative drive. Screenwriter Ken Hixon falls into the trap of not trusting his characters' actions to speak for themselves, so he makes sure to underscore every point with pages of expository, obvious dialogue. Vincent's long, chatty conversations about his feelings not only seemed out of character, they were unnecessary; we'd already figured him out the way we're supposed to, through action and characterization.

It also bothered me that the audience always knew everything that was going on. I know the movie's not supposed to be a whodunit, but a little mystery may have helped me identify more with Vincent as he tries to decide whether or not to believe his son. The story is told in such a straightforward, plodding manner that it became predictable, making it difficult to care about the outcome.

Though City by the Sea gets a lot right, the lifelessness of its storytelling keeps me from recommending it. A little more subtlety and originality would have helped make the whole more than the sum of its considerable parts.

Gorilla Pants rating: 1 out of 4 bananas