City Hall

Day 255 - 9/12/09 - Movie #255

BEFORE: Moving north from the Trade Center, we pass City Hall on the right - and Al Pacino plays the mayor...

THE PLOT: The accidental shooting of a boy in New York leads to an investigation by the Deputy Mayor, and unexpectedly far-reaching consequences.

AFTER: Like "Wall Street", this had a plot with a lot of pieces that didn't seem to add up to a coherent whole for me. And I'm not sure if the problem is with the plot, or my lack of understanding. The shoot-out between a cop and a low-level mob drug-dealer uncovers a conspiracy - the main question being, why is the drug-dealer walking the streets on probation, when his offences warranted a 10 to 20-year sentence?

So the guy was connected, and somebody pulled some strings to influence the judge and the probation officers (I think), and John Cusack as the deputy mayor spends the rest of the movie trying to figure out who. It's not much of a surprise to New Yorkers to find out that there's a connection between mobsters and elected officials, or "Democratic bosses".

The more familiar you are with city politics, the more enjoyable this film probably is. But if you don't know much about politics (like me), this is probably very confusing.

Supporting work from Danny Aiello, Martin Landau, David Paymer, Richard Schiff ("West Wing"), Lauren Velez, Tamara Tunie ("Law & Order: SVU"), and John Slattery ("Mad Men")

RATING: 4 out of 10 indictments