Review by Matt Finley
I won’t bury the lede: the only thing
less inspired than BROKEN CITY’s dime-store paperback title
is its used-up flophouse mattress of a plot. Directed by Alan Hughes
(THE BOOK OF ELI) from the first produced screenplay by writer
Brian Tucker, the film is bland, overlong, and borderline
nonsensical, offering the most facile of underdog fantasies: a single
working-class schlub who, with the aid of a little elbow grease and
whole lotta moral outrage, single-handedly challenges the
cartoonishly corrupt mayor of New York City.
If only it were lousy enough to be
remarkable – a concerted train wreck or an unintended cult classic.
Alas, lazy dialogue, mediocre performances, hum-drum action
sequences, and a conspiracy plot that substitutes convolution for
intelligence ensure that it’s the most mediocre form of crap.
