City Hall

Starring: Al Pacino, John Cusack, Bridget Fonda, Danny Aiello, Martin Landau
Directed by: Harold Becker
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Thriller
1996

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: The Mayor (Al Pacino) of New York City and his right-hand man (John Cusack) face a huge political obstacle when a small boy is killed by a stray bullet when a cop and a drug dealer clash. This event sets into motion a serious of events which reveal political corruption that threatens to shake the city to the core.

Review:

Tim: I am surprised how little I cared about anything that happened in this movie. City Hall has all the ingredients of a movie that I should have loved. The movie features Al Pacino and John Cusack, both actors whom I respect and love seeing. It is also a movie about the fascinating behind-the-world scenes of politics in the U.S's biggest city. I should have loved this movie. Instead, I was bored far too often.

Al Pacino is surprisingly ineffective. This has less to do with his skill and more with the script he was handed. This movie must have felt like a Scent of a Woman type film, with a role Pacino could just knock out of the park. This never happens. John Cusack, usually a reliable actor, isn't great, either. Yes, I did enjoy seeing Pacino and Cusack together on screen, but nothing really makes any kind of impact. Even Bridget Fonda seemed a bit out of her element. I simply couldn't get into the story, the characters, or the movie at all. This was disappointing.

While I did like the political wheeling and dealing, it never really amounted to anything special. Even the film's end, which should have been powerful and remarkable, elicits only a dull yawn as we wait for the film to conclude. This movie could have been good, but it seems to lose focus halfway through, almost as if it tires of itself halfway through, and has no other option but to plug away until it's over.

City Hall does have some decent scenes. I didn't hate this movie, as much as I was simply disappointed and bored with it. If you think it sounds like an interesting movie, it might be worth seeing. However, there is so little that strikes you as important or powerful that I can't imagine watching this movie a second time. Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Scent of a Woman, Glengarry Glen Ross, Grace is Gone, Runaway Jury