Imagine a crime drama with a star- studded cast, an intriguing plot and provocative themes. Now take that image and smash it into a brick wall repeatedly for hours and hours. The result is "City by the Sea," a tiresome, unoriginal and often melodramatic film starring Robert De Niro, Frances McDormand and James Franco.
De Niro plays Vincent LaMarca, a homicide detective who must deal with the emotional demons of his father's controversial and murderous past, in addition to his own son's drug addiction. His son Joey (Franco) has never recovered from his father's absence after a nasty divorce, and he turns to a life of drugs.
One rainy evening in the decaying city of Long Beach, N.J., Joey and his friend become involved in a drug deal that goes dreadfully wrong. The result is Joey's "accidental" stabbing of the dealer.
Vincent starts to investigate the killing, but when he realizes that his son is the murder suspect, his world falls apart. At this point, Vincent must come to terms with his son, his father, his ex-wife and his girlfriend Michelle (McDormand).
The audience in the theater consisted of five people, unfortunately myself among them. One woman left 30 minutes into the film, and I have to say I envied her.
I was so bored during those tedious 108 minutes, I had no other choice but to play "Snake" on my cell phone.
The story line and script of "City by the Sea" are melodramatic and dull. I would have expected to see something of this caliber on a made-for-TV movie. Much of the dialogue follows stereotypes and histrionic clich
s that should not appear in a film which boasts actors with Oscars and critical fame.
But this poses an interesting question: Are the glory days of De Niro's career over? As we take a look back on his recent theatrical achievements, the dreadful "Showtime" and "15 Minutes" come quickly to mind. Such disasters plague the remarkable career that he put together earlier in his life.
Although De Niro's acting is adequate in "City by the Sea," the dialogue fails to offer any challenge for him. He simply delivers his lines and acts his emotions without truly being able to display the depth of his character.
"City by the Sea" is based on a true story, but the screenwriter (Ken Hixon) changed the actual gruesome murder of a drug dealer to this more "accidental" killing. I guess this was an attempt to make Joey more palatable to the audience.
It doesn't work. While Franco's performance is believable but not extraordinary, the script fails to give him any substance. The audience tries to sympathize with his problems, but there really isn't that much to work with. In the end, I didn't even care what happened to his character.
One aspect of this film actually manages to redeem it a little. Without McDormand's presence as the girlfriend and neighbor, the audience would never be able to see into the troubled world of Vincent.
McDormand's presence is so powerful because of what she doesn't have to say. Her body language and eye contact express more than the script could ever give justice to.
For instance, in one scene, Michelle hints that she wants more than her monotonous life with Vincent; however, she quickly realizes that Vincent does not feel the same way. Her reactions to this response are filled with disappointment and frustration.
Unfortunately, the script completely forgets about Michelle toward the end of the film, and there is absolutely no resolution with her character. She simply disappears from the movie altogether. So much for that redeeming factor.
Even the appearance of this film is grisly, rainy and uninviting. The decrepit images of Long Beach are supposed to contrast with the once thriving and beautiful beach resort, and the movie bombards its audience with little references to the glamorous past life through songs, television shows and little snippets of conversation.
The juxtaposition of the past and present cities represents the past and present lives of its characters. Apparently, the director (Michael Caton-Jones) felt his audience was too incompetent to figure out that the lives of his characters, like Long Beach, have taken a turn for the worse.
Overall, what I disliked most about "City by the Sea" was that it had so much potential to be much better. And yet, I can't say that it was a complete waste of my afternoon, since, after all, it did allow me to get my all-time high score while playing "Snake."
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