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Video Capsule Review

CITY BY THE SEA (2003)

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Credits

Release Date: Sep 06, 2002; Rated: R; Video Release Date: Feb 18, 2003; Genres: Crime, Drama; With: Robert De Niro and James Franco; Distributor: Warner Bros.

By Joshua Rich

Joshua Rich

Joshua Rich is a staff editor for EW.com

Since movie studios apparently think audiences are unable to digest a complex domestic drama about working-class Americans sans gunfights, De Niro's latest intimate family story comes packaged as De Niro's latest clumsy crime yarn. In telling the true tale of cop Vincent LaMarca -- haunted by his criminal father while on the trail of his criminal son (Franco) -- director Michael Caton-Jones loads up on rote police procedurals and pseudo-metaphorical shots of crumbled buildings. All the while, a smart movie is buried beneath the debris.

Posted Feb 21, 2003

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