Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

58 (Untitled)
96 35 Shots of Rum
56 Adam
72 Adela
39 Adventures of Power
78 Afghan Star
61 After the Storm
66 Afterschool
xx All the Best
58 American Casino
72 Amreeka
48 Antichrist
73 Araya
62 Art & Copy
55 As Seen Through These Eyes
76 Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86 Beaches of Agnes, The
13 Beautiful Life, A
70 Beeswax
35 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71 Big Fan
66 Black Dynamite
51 Blind Date
xx Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76 Bliss
35 Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26 Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57 Boys Are Back, The
45 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81 Bright Star
70 Bronson
45 Burning Plain, The
xx Carriers
55 Casi Divas
57 Chelsea on the Rocks
62 Cloud 9
65 Coco Before Chanel
69 Cold Souls
59 Collapse
44 Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82 Cove, The
75 Crude
82 Damned United, The
67 Departures
xx Dil Bole Hadippa
71 Disgrace
xx Do Knot Disturb
70 Earth Days
24 Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85 Education, An
55 Endgame
xx Eulogy for a Vampire
xx Everyone Else
xx Fatal Promises
56 Fifty Dead Men Walking
62 Five Minutes of Heaven
74 Flame & Citron
49 Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80 Food, Inc.
28 Free Style
xx From Mexico with Love
50 Fuel
25 Gentlemen Broncos
50 Give Me Your Hand
58 Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72 Good Hair
89 Goodbye Solo
52 Grace
66 Harmony and Me
81 Headless Woman, The
xx Heretics, The
63 Horse Boy, The
73 House of the Devil, The
xx How to Seduce Difficult Women
74 Humpday
94 Hurt Locker, The
29 I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16 If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75 In Search of Beethoven
83 In the Loop
61 Intimate Enemies
42 Irene in Time
70 It Might Get Loud
46 Killing Kasztner
19 Labor Day
xx Laila's Birthday
41 Little Ashes
41 Little Traitor, The
66 Liverpool
34 Looking for Palladin
80 Lorna's Silence
83 Maid, The
xx Ministers, The
59 More Than a Game
67 Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34 Motherhood
62 My One and Only
xx Mystery Team
48 New York, I Love You
73 Night and Day
66 No Impact Man
47 Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34 Other Man, The
xx Painter Sam Francis, The
54 Paper Heart
xx Paradise
68 Paranormal Activity
68 Paris
44 Peter and Vandy
35 Play the Game
77 Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx Pretty Ugly People
65 Providence Effect, The
76 Rembrandt's J'accuse
69 September Issue, The
79 Serious Man, A
40 Shrink
61 Skin
77 Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx Skiptracers
46 Splinterheads
39 St. Trinian's
89 Still Walking
50 Stoning of Soraya M., The
55 Storm
65 Tetro
70 That Evening Sun
72 Thirst
xx Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61 Trucker
xx Turning Green
83 U2 3D
66 Unmade Beds
66 Unmistaken Child
70 Visual Acoustics
55 Walt & El Grupo
67 Way We Get By, The
69 We Live in Public
64 Wedding Song, The
64 Where is Where?
xx White on Rice
74 Woman in Berlin, A
69 World's Greatest Dad
70 Yes Men Fix the World
69 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx You, the Living

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

City by the Sea

EMAILPRINTWarner Bros.

City by the Sea reviews
50
5.8 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 34 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 14 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama

Written by: Ken Hixon
Mike McAlary (article Mark of a Murderer)

Directed by: Michael Caton-Jones

Release Date:
Theatrical: September 6, 2002
DVD: February 18, 2003

Running Time: 108 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: R for language, drug use and some violence

Starring Robert De Niro, Frances McDormand, James Franco, Eliza Dushku, William Forsythe, George Dzundza, and Patti LuPone

The gripping story of a dedicated police officer who discovers that the chief suspect in his current murder investigation is his own son. (Warner Bros.)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

80

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

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, including a subtle Frances McDormand and a ferocious Patti LuPone, as well as the heartbreaking (and achingly beautiful) Franco.

Read Full Review >
75

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Moves along with a quietude, a scruffy direct plainness that has long gone out of style.

Read Full Review >
75

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Not an extraordinary movie. 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 Full Review >
75

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Against the backdrop represented by stark images of abandoned buildings and lost dreams, the tale that is City by the Sea emerges, with the power of the visual cues giving this film its forcefulness.

Read Full Review >
75

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

It's so bleak that it would play like a contrived neo-noir if it weren't so consistent, committed and obviously sincere.

Read Full Review >
70

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Calls on De Niro to drum up the sort of emotional intensity that's been allowed to atrophy of late. City By The Sea isn't always worthy of him, but it makes enough demands to bring out his best.

Read Full Review >
70

New Times (L.A.) Luke Y. Thompson

We so often hear the lament that Hollywood films don't have characters we can care about that it's a real pleasure to note that all the people in this one feel fully developed. It'd be nice if there were more of a plot to go along with them.

70

Variety Robert Koehler

De Niro's reunion with helmer Michael Caton-Jones doesn't stoke the same fire as their previous pere-fils drama, "This Boy's Life," partly because De Niro's latest portrayal of a troubled cop feels so familiar.

Read Full Review >
67

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

For some reason, the emotional payoff of the film -- the healing of a dysfunctional family -- doesn't quite come off. Possibly this is because Franco doesn't generate the necessary sympathy or father-son chemistry with De Niro, possibly because it's just not in the script.

Read Full Review >
63

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Of course, bad writing can undo the best actor. If you doubt that, check out De Niro's soliloquy at the film's climax. He's acting the heck out of the words, but they're still dragging him down with them.

Read Full Review >
63

Boston Globe Sam Allis

The movie will be remembered primarily for the huge, emerging talent of James Franco, who plays De Niro's troubled son.

Read Full Review >
63

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

As a character study, City by the Sea is engaging. As a police thriller, it's not all there.

Read Full Review >
63

USA Today Claudia Puig

It's a run-of-the-mill cop thriller but also a gripping family drama. It is in the moments spent untangling the threads of troubled relationships that the movie is at its best.

Read Full Review >
63

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

A great cast can't quite pull City by the Sea out of the drink.

63

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Takes a fascinating true story and turns it into a conventional cop thriller, hoking up the provocative three-generation saga of the LaMarca family.

Read Full Review >
63

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

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 Full Review >
60

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

The cast and the direction are too good, in the end, for the rather desultory place the movie ends up.

Read Full Review >
60

Wall Street Journal Collin Levey

Notwithstanding a thin script and a color-by-numbers ending, the movie is redeemed by its solid performances.

50

New York Post Lou Lumenick

A murky, vaguely fact-based melodrama that quickly sinks into the same swamp as such recent De Niro mistakes as "15 Minutes" and "Showtime."

Read Full Review >
50

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The changes are meant to make it easier for audiences to accept Vincent's loyalty to Angelo and Joey, but they blunt the genetic mystery that made McAlary's story so compelling in the first place.

Read Full Review >
50

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Shot in gloomy shades of gray, this earnest but banal story about the legacy of bad parenting strands fine actors in a contrived situation and lets them squirm.

Read Full Review >
50

Film Threat Michael Dequina

The saccharine conclusion would be problematic in any film, but given how much talent is involved, it's especially disappointing here.

Read Full Review >
50

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Has trouble seeming real. Its back story, involving the sins of Detective LaMarca's own father, feels contrived and the eventual resolution is simultaneously shaky and too pat.

Read Full Review >
50

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Frances McDormand and Patti LuPone are solid as his girlfriend and ex-wife, respectively, and James Franco is just right as his wayward son. They're a talented team. Too bad the movie doesn't live up to their abilities.

Read Full Review >
50

Slate David Edelstein

That City by the Sea isn't laughed off the screen is testament to Caton-Jones' attention to actors and to some tightly written scenes.

Read Full Review >
50

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Stumbles from restrained, fine-edged realism into blunt and muddy melodrama.

Read Full Review >
40

Austin Chronicle Steve Davis

The biggest shame in this movie is how it wastes Frances McDormand.

Read Full Review >
40

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Robert De Niro and Frances McDormand almost rescue this lifeless, clichéd cop drama! Close isn't good enough!

Read Full Review >
40

Village Voice Mark Holcomb

There's nothing wrong with a little creative license, but 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 Full Review >
40

The New Yorker David Denby

After the complex buildup of tensions, the last ten minutes of the movie are a comic-pathetic letdown: the subdued acting and the trash-strewn street scenes lead to nothing more striking than the kind of overexplicit clichés heard in mediocre TV dramas. Even De Niro's discipline and skill can't save lines that should never have been spoken in the first place. [9 September 2002, p.162]

40

Chicago Reader Fred Camper

De Niro sinks this crime drama with his vacant, inattentive performance as an affectionally challenged homicide detective.

Read Full Review >
30

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

The role plays all too easily into De Niro's worst current habits. He's dulled himself out in the service of a phony kitchen-sink pseudo-realism. For De Niro, less has become less.

Read Full Review >
30

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The true story of the LaMarcas, well told by the late Mike McAlary in Esquire, has been pounded into TV-crime mush by screenwriter Ken Hixon and director Michael Caton-Jones. Shockingly, the acting doesn't help.

Read Full Review >
30

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Yields the same sort of archetype and the usual results: De Niro's workmanlike in a dismayingly familiar role.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 5.8 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

John N. gave it a9:
I thought this was a beautifully constructed movie; a gripping story, great casting and understandably strong performances. Notably, I welcomed the minimal use of music to tell me how I should feel; the script and performances were largely left to stand on their strengths. It's a mystery to me that this movie had such poor reviews, although perhaps it suited the DVD medium on which we viewed it. Highly recommended.

[Anonymous] gave it a7:
Flawed, but it fleshes out how horrid things can be in NYC's dark side. Deniro acts a bit wussy in a scene, though, and some emotional scenes feel cliched. nevertheless, decent entertainment.

Pat C. gave it a 5:
It was thought-provoking, but would then expose those thoughts as irrelevant. One thought that got through is that sometimes fathers have to make hard choices.

Matt F. gave it an 8:
This movie really taught how no matter what you are and your son may go through, that you'll always try and work things out. His dad (Robert De Niro) was determined to get his son out of trouble.

Tommy L. gave it a 5:
Boring...nothing really wrong with the movie...just boring.

Phil D. gave it an 8:
Am I the only one who actually enjoyed this movie? The story was great, the actors were great. Actually, the only thing I hated was the Spyder caracter...too cliche for me but it's still a great flick.

John J. gave it a 1:
Oh ouch! De Niro produced it....that was his first mistake. It stunk as badly as the scenery looked!

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use