Posted on: Friday, September 6, 2002

MOVIE REVIVEW
'City by the Sea' features De Niro in top form

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

Robert De Niro is back in top-flight dramatic form in Michael Caton-Jones's well-made drama that explores the father-son dynamic in the guise of a police thriller. He and his co-stars — James Franco and Frances McDormand — bring surprising life to a rather verbose script. Warner Bros., 105 minutes. Rated R for violence, drug use, profanity. (Rated R for violence, drug use, profanity) Three Stars (Good) Gannett News Service

Robert De Niro is back in top-flight dramatic form in "City by the Sea," a well-made drama that explores the father-son dynamic in the guise of a police thriller.

De Niro is Vincent LaMarca, a veteran Manhattan cop whose exemplary career has helped people forget his troubled past. When Vincent was eight, his father went to the electric chair.

But it appears the sins of the father have skipped a generation — and landed smack on Vincent's estranged son, Joey (James Franco). Joey is a junkie, hanging out with the lost and violent losers of run-down Long Beach, Long Island, a former beach resort that now resembles a bombed-out war zone.

Joey and Vincent have not talked in more than a decade — Vincent's break-up with Joey's mother was far from pleasant.

The emotionally scarred Vincent now lives in Manhattan, and is in the midst of a cautious relationship with the understanding woman (Frances McDormand) who lives in the apartment below his.

But Vincent and Joey become intertwined once again when a body washes up on the Manhattan side of the river. A Long Beach drug dealer has been murdered — and Joey is the chief suspect.

"City by the Sea" has been loosely adapted from a 1997 Esquire article by Mike McAlary. ("Loosely" because the real LaMarca was a retired cop — here he's still active, which puts father and son in a far more intense situation.)

Director Michael Caton-Jones previously made "This Boy's Life," which featured another remarkable De Niro performance.

Here the director gets engaging, affecting portrayals not only from his star, but also from hot young Franco (who played James Dean in the TNT biopic), the always-superb veteran McDormand, and William Forsythe, a spooky character actor whose villains always get under your skin.

Caton-Jones also maintains the proper balance between the script's two key elements — the father-son domestic story and the police thriller. The film works well on both levels.

The script, though, by Ken Hixon is overly talkative. Characters too often state the obvious — and then state it again. De Niro has a long speech during the final confrontation that only an actor of his caliber could begin to sell. But, even then, it's a stretch.

Fortunately, the high-quality actors and the film's effectively gritty production values generate a surprising amount of life in Hixon's verbose script.

Jack Garner of The Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle is chief film reviewer for Gannett News Service.