Not that great of a film starring alleged "greats"

I'm not sure if I would consider Al Pacino, John Cusack, or Bridget Fonda "great," but all have earned enough acclaim(except for maybe Fonda, who also has her share of negative reviews) to make one think they would choose "better" than this film. I also enjoy supporting actors John Slattery and Jordan Baker(who have the combined total of about six lines in this film, which doesn't help it any) and usually respct their choices, but not really this time. And I've been fair to this movie, too. This is one of those ones where I sat and tried my hardest to watch it straight through. However, hard as it tried, "City Hall" failed to capture my attention for much of its long-seeming run. Still, I was distracted a few times during the film and felt that I had not given it much of a
chance to prove itself, so when it came on TV another time, I decided to watch it again, straigh through...and STILL felt pretty bored. I don't know what it was. Maybe crime dramas just aren't really my thing, and "City Hall" deals with its share of crime.

As it is with a lot of crime movies, nobody is really much what they seem in "City Hall," as good-guy John Cusack finds out along the way. He is Kevin Calhoun, aid to New York City Mayor John Pappas (Al Pacino, who is way, WAY overbilled), both of who are trying to solve a senseless crime that resulted in the shooting death of a six-year-old boy. Or they do for awhile, at least. Along the way come such characters as Danny Aiello, who plays a bad...something that makes the plot twist into something I STILL haven't figured out. Underground crime, or something. All I know is that Pacino is involved and Aiello is the ringleader and his character is WAY too similar to his one in "The Power of Attorney," which is completely distracting, since it's not too fun to watch capable actors being typecasted.

Adding on to the weakness is the characters. Despite Al Pacino's top billing, John Cusack is is beyond the star of this film, and his role is pathetically the most interesting of the bunch. I will say he succeeds in bringing "Kevin" to life, but he's also really lacking in something like... charm, silly as it sounds. Bridget Fonda, with all due respect, is also rather charisma-free in her role (maybe it WAS her role,as Marybeth, the eager attorney(or something) that seems to have stepped out of "Law and Order"), and I've already been over my feelings for Aiello's role, which is the one I am convinced worsened the film. As for Al Pacino, the "star" who should have received about sixth billing? I'm not sure what he was trying to prove with this role. Maybe large amounts of cash were offfered or something. As the mayor of New York, Pacino spends most of his time either in an office or hobnobbing with the social elite. Neither of these situations amount to a great part, or even much of a pointful one, not that they could have had the movie without him or anything, but if ANY other actor portrayed Mayor Pappas, they would not have even made the POSTER, let alone top billing, and they also would have er, toned down a bit. A particularly amusing example of this is when he is giving at the murdered boy's funeral. Despite his audience being a crowd of MOURNING "lower class" men and women, Al's character was appearantly suffering from hallucinations and imagining that he was at a big political rally or something, for instead of saying some kind words and appologizing about the boy's death, Al shrieks and bellows about something completely inane like choosing to FIGHT(it's in the trailer, where surely nobody would have guessed it was from a scene regarding the funeral of a child). Now that kind of drama is always nice in livening up scenes, but not...that one. That would beyond be considered inappropriate, had it been a real situation.

And that was the first part, when the film actually had some energy and interest.By the middle, that has all been drained away and the petty crime
sub-plot has taken its place. I think even the cast members were begining to feel exhausted by the lack of anything exciting to do, for in a scene When Al and the other men of importance are at an opera house and somebody is raising trouble in the lobby, even the actors who were playing the guards meant to protect ol' Al don't even seem to care about his predicament (they probably didn't remember what it was, by then), and instead literally look BORED, as they glance around a hallway. And these actors (one was John Slattery, an accomplished stage actor) know what they're doing too. It just says something about the quality of the film they were stuck with.