City By The Sea film review

certificate_15

CITY BY THE SEA

The relationship between a father and son can be fractious at the best of times. In City By The Sea, those paternal bonds are tested to breaking point when a police officer discovers that his only child has been implicated in a murder enquiry, and he is forced to make a stark choice between duty and family loyalty.

Detective Vincent LaMarca (Robert De Niro) is a homicide cop working in New Jersey, who has struggled all of his life to escape the shadow of his father: a convicted baby killer. The terrible legacy of the past has weighed heavily on Vincent and his personal relationships have suffered as a consequence. He walked out on his wife Maggie (Patti LuPone) and son Joey (James Franco) and is now tentatively dating Michelle (Frances McDormand), who lives upstairs in his apartment block.

During the routine search of a warehouse as part of an ongoing investigation, Vincent's long suffering partner Reg (George Dzundza) is shot dead, and Joey is identified as the chief suspect. With his colleagues baying for blood and girlfriend Michelle as his sole support, Vincent races against time to prove the boy's innocence. Matters are further complicated with the arrival of Joey's junkie girlfriend, Gina (Eliza Dushku), who needs a place to stay with their toddler son.

Despite a starry cast, City By The Sea fails to make much of an impression, burdened with an uninvolving plot and poorly sketched characters. De Niro, McDormand and Franco bring gravitas to the roles, but there's only so much they can do with the meagre source material. Their relationships feel contrived and it's not hard to see why Vincent has becomes estranged from his son: he is distant and aloof, and completely unable to communicate with his boy.

Of course, this is symptomatic of Vincent's relationship with his own father, but for the film to work, we need to see some connection between the two men, however fragile. Only in the final tense moments do we get any tangible hope that father and son will be able to rebuild bridges, and perhaps save Joey's son from a similarly loveless future.

Equally perplexing is Michelle and Vincent fledgling romance: he offers her scant emotional or physical support, so why would she want to be with him? The script shies away from explanations by shunting McDormand into the background, relegating her to babysitter for Vincent's grandson.

An explosive yet disappointingly cliched finale condemns the film to mediocrity.