'Broken City' review: Broken bits undermine lofty ambitions ...

Quality-wise, the crime drama "Broken City" lives in a frustrating mid-range area: It's too complex and competently crafted to dismiss as junk -- but it's also nowhere near sharp enough to work as the serious grown-up detective movie it clearly wants to be.

The story (as scripted by first-timer Brian Tucker and directed by Allen Hughes) has the promise of bite, introducing a trio of characters slopping about in the murkier areas of New York governance. A disgraced NYC cop (Mark Wahlberg), on trial for gunning down a bad kid under suspicious circumstances in the projects, gets a break from the mayor (Russell Crowe) and a police captain (Jeffrey Wright).

Cut to seven years later. Wahlberg is on the wagon, struggling as a two-bit private eye, with an actress girlfriend (Natalie Martinez) and a wisecracking secretary (Alona Tal). The mayor -- in danger of losing an election to an idealistic challenger (Barry Pepper) -- hires Wahlberg to spy on the mayor's possibly unfaithful wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones). From there, it gets complicated.

Or rather, it only gets half-complicated. And because the movie's complicated stuff feels at odds with its uncomplicated stuff, it leaves "Broken City" feeling mediocre.

True to the genre (and no, I'm not really spoiling anything), Wahlberg's shamus stumbles onto a larger corruption. It's a complex scenario involving lots of players, betrayals and pieces of paper. And the all-star cast is certainly up to the task; it's fun to watch Wahlberg and Crowe fence a little.

But every so often the filmmakers drop in something that's insultingly simple-minded by comparison. Lame '80s-TV-caliber detective work. Rote action beats. The do-gooder mayoral challenger having the last name "Valliant." Also, the characters' interrelationships get so dense you'd think there were about six people living in New York City.

But mostly, the problem is just that the dialogue is on the nose and not nearly as sophisticated as the story's ambitions. Consider this painful bit of banter:

Martinez: "When you going to stop coming home looking like a slice of bloody meat?"

Wahlberg: "I thought you liked bloody meat."

Martinez: "I'm a vegetarian."

These bouts of mild dopiness result in a workmanlike drama with less-than-total command of its tone. And thus a corruption-damning actor's showcase becomes something you can dismiss with a shrug.
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(109 min., R, multiple locations) Grade: C

-- Mike Russell

Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/movies/index.ssf/2013/01/broken_city_review_broken_bits.html

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