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Trite melodrama masquerades as a gritty political thriller in newbie screenwriter Brian Tucker’s breathless exercise in cinematic boredom. Mark Wahlberg’s signature singsong delivery gets eaten up and spit out in his role as Billy Taggart, a New York City cop-turned-private-detective.
Russell Crowe gums more than chews scenery as New York Mayor Hostetler, who is busy running a vicious re-election campaign against a hotshot newcomer liberal played by Barry Pepper. The story gets a stumbling start when Hostetler hires Taggart to spy on his adulterous wife Cathleen (Catherine Zeta-Jones).
Subplots dead-end; witness the dubious romantic trajectory of Taggart and his actress girlfriend Nat (played by Natalie Barrow in a thankless role). Taggart has the screenwriter’s-tic of calling Hostetler “Mayor,” and Jeffrey Wright’s freelance police leader “Chief.”
The movie is so knee-deep in clichés and extended paragraphs of tail-chasing exposition that it’s not funny. Cindy Mollo’s shabby editing is even less of a joke. Suspense thrillers don’t come much more marginal than “Broken City.” How low can Russell Crowe and Mark Wahlberg go? This is one filmic limbo that hits the floor with a dull thud.
Rated R. 109 mins.
