City by the Sea 2002

Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: Like a book you can't put down, this is one of the rare movies that simply keeps getting better and better. Read more

Sam Allis, Boston Globe: City by the Sea begins life in great health only to be strangled in its crib by bad writing. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: A good cop movie with fine performances. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: City by the Sea suffers from dialogue that often sounds like convenient exposition as well as from a climax that feels too pat and prosaic. But the film is peppered with small, explosive scenes that have a refreshing complexity. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: I liked a lot of the smaller scenes. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: All movie long, City by the Sea swings from one approach to the other, but in the end, it stays in formula -- which is a waste of De Niro, McDormand and the other good actors in the cast. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: The furious coherence that [DeNiro] brings to this part only underscores the fuzzy sentimentality of the movie itself, which feels, as it plods toward the end, less like a movie than like the filmed reading of a script in need of polishing. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: The real Vincent LaMarca has lived a life that's the stuff of Greek tragedy. Too bad this film can't quite do it justice. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Well-acted, intelligent and honest, the film works too hard to be meaningful -- and it's never good to see a movie sweat. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: City by the Sea is the cinematic equivalent of defensive driving: It's careful, conscientious and makes no major mistakes. But what saves lives on the freeway does not necessarily make for persuasive viewing. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: A few moments of slackness notwithstanding, the tale is emotionally gripping to the end. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: Without De Niro and McDormand, City By The Sea could have easily been just another cheesy cop drama. With them, it's a moving story about fathers and sons, and how it's never too late to change your life. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The movie turns into a policier version of an Arthur Miller father-son truthfest, which is at once corny, a little schematic, and just honest enough to work. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: City by the Sea falls a script short of bliss -- we'll have to settle for occasional contentment. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: You've already seen City by the Sea under a variety of titles, but it's worth yet another visit. Read more

Chuck Wilson, L.A. Weekly: For the first time in years, De Niro digs deep emotionally, perhaps because he's been stirred by the powerful work of his co-stars. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: A film that doesn't just support the action to come, but makes it seem inevitable. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: A compendium of cliches about fathers and sons. Read more

David Edelstein, NPR's Fresh Air: Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: [City] reminds us how realistically nuanced a Robert De Niro performance can be when he is not more lucratively engaged in the shameless self-caricature of 'Analyze This' (1999) and 'Analyze That,' promised (or threatened) for later this year. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Those who venture into a theater playing City by the Sea will find their two hours well spent Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: In its workmanship it aspires not to be remarkable but to be well made, dependable, moving us because of the hurt in the hero's eyes. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Robert De Niro and Frances McDormand almost rescue this lifeless, cliched cop drama! Close isn't good enough! Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: De Niro has been showing us great stuff for 30 years now, but in this movie he shows us something new.. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Time Out: Read more

Mike D'Angelo, Time Out: Suffers from a schematic, overdetermined rigidity, as if screenwriter Ken Hixon had plotted the scenario on graph paper before setting it down in type. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: It's a run-of-the-mill cop thriller but also a gripping family drama. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: De Niro infuses his familiar NYC cop identity with a feeling of near-exhaustion and emotional fatigue, the outward face of a man who has been privately suffering for years. Read more

Mark Holcomb, Village Voice: The abundance of self-serving fabrication in City by the Sea not only diminishes LaMarca's experience and cheapens McAlary's work, it all but desecrates the memory of the real murder victim. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: De Niro's workmanlike in a dismayingly familiar role. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: I like everything about it except it. Read more