City Hall

source: City Hall

We often see movies about undesirable things going on in politics, but I still recommend "City Hall". In a role he was born to play, Al Pacino stars as New York's mayor who has to deal with the shooting of a boy. But it turns out that nothing that he does will really have any effect. In this movie, the characters are as gritty as we would expect of anyone involved in a political scandal. No matter how much you trust any given politician, you may have your doubts after watching this movie. I understand that I can't name any specific example of something similar to what this movie portrays, but that's not the point. If we had idealistic impressions of those at the top, this movie tears such ideas down. Certainly one that I encourage you to see. Also starring John Cusack, Bridget Fonda, Danny Aiello, Anthony Franciosa and David Paymer.

Across the country and especially in the political landscape, people with any kind of political ambition, should take time out to see this film. The movie is called " City Hall " and with little imagination, its synopsis can take place anywhere in America. It just so happens to open in New York. Here we have the story of a popular politician named Mayor John Pappas (Al Pacino) with enough savvy to run a major metropolitan city with very little effort. His right-hand man is none other than Deputy Mayor Kevin Calhoun (John Cusack) an equally bright individual who's ambitions are tied to his mentor and both seemed destined for higher office. Everything points in that direction, until a police shooting ignites an investigation spearheaded by Marybeth Cogan (Bridget Fonda) who believes the guilt points towards city hall and the mayor. A six year old boy and a police officer's death are blamed on a career criminal who's questionable freedom leads to an apparent cover-up by political pay-offs and city corruption involving union leaders like Danny Aiello played by Frank Anselmo, corrupt judicial officials like Judge Walter Stern. (Martin Landau) and mafia bosses like Paul Zapatti (Anthony Franciosa) who are deeply involved. Also implicated, are party officials like Larry Schwartz (Richard Schiff) who works for the probation office of New York. But it is the bond between the mayor and his deputy which is taken to task by the accidental shooting. A great vehicle for Cusack and a sure bet nominee to become a classic. ****

A pretty mediocre movie, neither completely awful nor particularly gripping. John Cusack is the young, ambitious deputy mayor to Al Pacino. One of the movie's main problems is that Cusack has the lead role but his character isn't very interesting. He plays a transplanted Southerner determined to help pave the way to the White House (James Carville, anyone?) for his father-figure Mayor Pacino. A shoot-out at the beginning of the movie that leaves a cop, a felon, and a young boy dead unearths possible corruption in the courts, leading the idealistic and inquisitive Cusack on a trail that may lead back into his very own office (don't want to give anything away, but the video box says as much). Much of the movie's two hour run-time is stuffed with chatter to show the atmosphere of the New York political scene, but ultimately it just fills like filler because there's not much of a payoff, as the scandal that is eventually unveiled is as simple as 1-2-3. Bridget Fonda has third billing but her role is a minor one (maybe 20 minutes of screen time) as the lawyer representing the dead cop's family. Mostly, she seems to be around to give Cusack a love interest and gives a pretty dull performance. Pacino alternates between being bombastic (in his supposedly charismatic moments) and just looking plain tired. Cusack is saddled with a ridiculous "Louisiana" accent that comes and goes. This is definitely not the best work of any three of these normally good actors. Overall, the movie's probably okay if it's on TV and there's nothing much else to do, otherwise it's not a real compelling watch.

City Hall is one of those hopeful yet ultimately frustrating films that never really delivers toward its potential. It's as if the characters, the plot, and the pacing of the film were kept apart throughout filming, and then only introduced in the editing room. The film begins with a lackluster conflict, the accidental shooting of a child by a drug dealer with relatives in the NY mob families who looks as if he came directly from Central Casting, and acts just as stiff. Before we even know anything about this character, he's confronted by a possibly corrupt cop ( the entire background motivation and confusion regarding the cop's rational for meeting with the drug dealer alone, without backup and without reporting in first is left completely unresolved...don't look for answers by the end of the film), gunfire is exchanged, and everyone is dead, including the innocent child, who is clearly injected into this formula for nothing more than aesthetic/emotional purposes, and is treated like "cinema-chum", shot dead for instant sympathy by the audience, only to draw in the bigger fish in the water, the primary characters. On the heels of the shooting, we are introduced to our principles, Al Pacino as the mayor, John Cusack as the deputy mayor, single-handedly managing the entirety of New York. The completely contrived setup of the administration of a city the size of New York being managed, at least from all appearances we are given on screen, by these two characters is beyond laughable...its' insipid. Very little backstory toward the actual operations of a City Hall, the interlying politics required to operate a major city, other than another contrived conversation between Al Pacino and Danny Aiello later in the film regarding quid pro quo negotiations for construction in a borough of the city. The central plot of the movie springs from the reaction by City Hall to this one shooting incident, as the world is (we suppose) put on temporary pause for days afterward in New York by this event. Cusack abandons his supposed position with City Hall and becomes a knee-jerk Mickey Spilane, trodding beside Bridget Fonda on some half-ass investigation of the politics surrounding the now dead cop, suspected of corruption, and the question of why the drug dealer was ever on the streets in the first place, having been questionably released on parole years before. Everyone phones in their performances, which appears as if everyone approached the movie with high hopes, then got distracted by something better to do, (possibly calling their agents for better scripts once this movie started filming) and just showed up to through with the dialogue. Numerous gaffs, faux pauxs regarding life in New York, cornball accents by Cusack, Fonda's character operating with the depth of a spring puddle, vanilla backgrounds, boring dialogue ( save Al Pacino's impassioned, yet ultimately weak tirades toward the shooting of James Bone and his personal conversations with Pappas) make for a really unsatisfying film....so much potential for more here. Avoid it. As much as it pains me to recommend against Al Pacino and John Cusack, actors I really enjoy, City Hall just can't deliver and feels like a TV movie of the week. Recommendations: Better political play on a national basis in Thirteen Days and the Contender.

Being a huge fan of Al Pacino (from the likes of 'Heat', the 'Godfather' movies, and 'Dog Day Afternoon' especially) and having had a huge crush on Bridget Fonda ('Single White Female', anyone?) back in the day (Peter Fonda's famous daughter was named 85th sexiest star in film history, and Mrs. Danny Elfman hasn't been involved in film, unfortunately, since 2002), I was hugely disappointed in this film, especially since I had loved director Harold Becker's previous 'Sea of Love', which also starred Pacino. The first half was decent and involving, but it kind of slid off the rails, interest-wise for me, the rest of the way and got too talky and uninspired. I don't really know if the problem was with the script or its direction. I know I'm not the greatest John Cusack fan in the world (I find he's much better in comedy, like his sister Joan), but he had pretty good co-stars, whose talents were basically wasted, in Martin Landau, Anthony Franciosa and Danny Aiello (these guys were BORN for these roles and films, so on paper, this should have really worked out well). I had always wondered why this film had bombed so miserably, and now I know why. In cases like this, more should have been done to alter the story arc, just some basic tweaks, to make it more suspenseful and/or (though I usually balk at such 'Hollywood' tendencies) some romantic tension (a beauty such as Fonda's was misused--they may as well have hired someone else). All in all, a wasted opportunity that's worth a look if you like dramas about corruption--just don't go in with big expectations, and don't bother with a re-watch.

I read the negative comments before viewing this film and undeterred, went ahead and started watching. I admit that I had to rewind quite a few times as the film is incredibly complex, involved and full of detail. That is a good thing but also, quite unexpected in this culture of car chases, explosions, gratuitous sex and general violence that substitute for plot and character development. In fact, what a welcome departure, however, I am so used to not paying a lot of attention to what I watch. This film is chock full of character development and plot line; the kind that we used to analyze when I was in high school. It requires actual mental participation on the part of the viewer. What a nice change. I would compare it to 'All The President's Men' in terms of generic subject matter. That is, it is a mystery about intense misconduct on the part of elected officials and those with enough influence upon officials to essentially 'own' them. Unlike 'All The President's Men', this film makes an effort to give a couple of the characters actual personality. In this sense the movie is a character study like 'The Negotiatior' with Samuel Jackson and Kevin Spacey. In that movie, their characters are both city employees and the plot is extremely intense. Yet, the plot is dependent on the ability of their characters to cooperate with each other, trust each, and ultimately unite together against the corrupt Police Department. There is more gun fire in this film and the specific plot is different but generically, there are many similarities. I WILL say that City Hall requires a whole lot more concentration. In fact, I was struck how parallel it was to past and present political scandals I've seen in my life going back to Watergate. The thing is, the public knows that something is wrong, for sure! but following the details is hard to do. This movie is not even close to being as complex as real life but it actually is realistic to life in its complexity. I think that is one of the reasons that previous posters have criticized the film: unrealistic expectations. If one watches this knowing what they are about to see and are up to the experience, it really is excellent! I watched it 3 times in a row! The acting is superb and the directing is flawless. The weakest link is John Cusak's accent.

Wow, a movie about NYC politics seemingly written by someone who has never set foot in NYC. You know there's a problem when at one moment you expect the credits to roll and the movie continues on for another half hour. The characters are boring, John Cusack's accent is laughable, and the plotline teeters between boring and laughable. A horrible movie.

I've seen this movie about 6 times now. And each time I view it, I'm more impressed by the story and the acting. Its like watching a train wreck being set in motion. Its subtle in its approach, but very effective in reaching its goal. Spoilers-> At the center of the story is a very nice dichotomy. On the one hand we have Deputy major, Eddy Calhoun (Cusack) unknowingly tearing at the old boys network that forms the hart of major of New York's Administration and on the other hand we have the mob boss Zappati who's deliberately trying to maintain the status quo through all means necessary. This situation nicely culminates in the end when Zappati orders Alselmo to make it easy on himself by killing himself and Calhoun ordering Pappas to do the same, politically speaking. The movie also contains some really great one-liners such as (a personal weakness of mine): - You don't sum up a man's life in one moment - The only thing new in this world is the history you don't know All in all, a great movie that deserves a much higher rating.

I saw City Hall on NBC about four years ago and thought that this movie was perfect for TV. With a couple of judicious language cuts and some clumsy edits for violence, the movie came to the little screen essentially intact. Unfortunately, City Hall is such a pleasant and vacant little "thriller," you probably will have forgotten it by the time you get up from in front of the TV to stretch. There's almost nothing here in this pedestrian story of city hall corruption! Al Pacino is just fine as the mayor of New York, a man who keeps hammering home to his staff, headed by the Pillsbury Doughboy incarnate, John Cusack, that if it's good for the city, it's good. Cusack looks as if he needs to be put back in the oven for another ten minutes. Bridget Fonda is all pretty hair and nice legs and freshly scrubbed cardboard. Danny Aiello plays, well, Danny Aiello. The other person of interest in the movie, Tony Franciosa, has been around a long, long time (and he is just so interesting to watch, even though he doesn't have much to do). There's an interesting sub-plot wherein Pacino is working very hard to bring the 1996 Democratic National Convention to town. Senator Ernest Hollings makes a nice appearance with Pacino and other bigwigs at a dinner party, and his cameo adds a bit of gravitas to this fluffy little Harold Becker film. Pacino is just plain fun to watch as he chews the scenery, and makes it look very much like good governance. Cusack doesn't fare so well. He has a great voice (and the sound recording of the actors is crisp and melodious), but at one point or another, you have to wonder how, really, this Louisiana transplant, Kevin Calhoun, got to be the Deputy Mayor of New York City. He tells Fonda something about politics being in all Louisianans' blood streams. Then he goes back to fighting corruption. Does anyone see the irony here? Oh, well. The movie is over, the dead cop's wife has got his pension, the baddies are locked up or have moved on, Cusack is chunkily cheerful (and has Fonda, with those spiffy gams and happy face), Pacino has apparently retired to practice law, and you can't remember what you did for the last two hours.