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BROKEN CITYMovie Reviews
Drama about a private eye who gets into trouble when a mayor hires him to investigate his unfaithful wife. Cast:Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Natalie Martinez, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jeffrey Wright, Kyle Chandler, Barry Pepper, Justin Chambers, Alona Tal, Han Soto, James Ransone, Catherine Kim Poon, Judd Lormand, Griffin Dunne, Michael BeachDirector:Allen HughesRelease Date:January 18, 2013DVD Release:April 30, 2013From:20th Century FoxRating:RLength:1 hr 49 min
Broken City played to fair reviews. • Mike Russell wrote in the Portland Oregonian, "...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." More Reviews Below...
Broken City Positive Reviews (45 Reviews, reviews below)
Alynda Wheat, People: MODERATE(cg) "The plot takes such wild turns that the film fishtails, leaving a viewer barely hanging on. Still, the fine cast of underemployed actors works."(See all of Alynda Wheat's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 122 words, 01/24/13
Richard Corliss, Time: WEAK "...a grimy botch.... It's as if the film's editor had been given two versions of every scene, one sizzling and the other sloppy, and mistakenly chose all of the bad takes."(See all of Richard Corliss's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 995 words, 01/18/13
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: WEAK(cg) "...these characters never feel like real people, despite a series of twists that should reveal hidden, unexpected facets of their personalities... forgettable pulp..."(See all of Christy Lemire's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 455 words, 01/17/13
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: GOOD(cg) "...kind of fun... teases us with intimations of the lurid, but its true subject is greed and the ruthlessness of companies that will lie through their teeth for profit."(See all of Owen Gleiberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 605 words, 01/16/13
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: WEAK(cg) "...a quicksand of clichés... someone needs to call bullshit on Crowe, struggling with a New Yawk accent, for playing the Mayor in a bad rug and a worse spray tan."(See all of Peter Travers's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 184 words, 01/17/13
Claudia Puig, USA Today: MODERATE(cg) "...in serious need of repair.... Few, if any, of the characters are believable.... Much of the plot gets bogged down with excess exposition."(See all of Claudia Puig's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 556 words, 01/18/13
Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: VERY GOOD(cg) "...the pleasures the movie offers in its old-school way are not entirely insubstantial. Wahlberg's a defter hand with dialogue scenes than he's often given credit for..."(See all of Glenn Kenny's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 591 words, 01/16/13
Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media: WEAK(cg) "...it's ridiculously easy to figure out the movie's one-percenter villains... If only the writing was worthy of such an esteemed (and impressively diverse) cast.... Age 16."(See all of Sandie Angulo Chen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 521 words, 01/17/13
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (13 Reviews)
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...if you don't listen to the dialogue too hard, if you tune out a bit and instead watch the screen, then 'Broken City' satisfies like the solid B movie it is."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 887 words, 01/18/13
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: WEAK(cg) "...looks familiar because it's the same generic metropolis you can find in countless other blandly made and quickly forgotten thrillers like this one."(See all of Elizabeth Weitzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 346 words, 01/18/13
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: WEAK "Hughes has allowed the high wire everyone is walking to go slack... the double crosses lack punch, the threats sound empty... nothing clicks, nothing resonates..."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 821 words, 01/18/13
Lou Lumenick, New York Post: MODERATE(cg) "...there's never a dull moment in this flick... At the same time, though, there's rarely a believable moment in the script..."(See all of Lou Lumenick's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 648 words, 01/18/13
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "For an hour or so director Allen Hughes maintains a firm handle on the story's turnabouts. Then the script goes a little nuts with coincidence and improbability..."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 438 words, 01/18/13
Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday: MODERATE(cg) "...has some crackling moments.... The problem is that Hughes wants to wring his hands over the material instead of just having fun with it."(See all of Rafer Guzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 288 words, 01/18/13
Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine: GOOD "...has an appropriately grungy, disreputable sheen to it that feels right.... effective... a movie that's alive in its own way..."(See all of Bilge Ebiri's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 610 words, 01/18/13
Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a big, juicy, sometimes clunky political crime thriller that plays like a 21st century B-movie.... Is it any good? No. But yeah."(See all of Richard Roeper's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 831 words, 01/18/13
Scott Foundas, Village Voice/LA Weekly: WEAK "...a flaccid, poor man's 'Chinatown'... Nothing is quite as it seems -- unless, of course, you've ever seen a movie about big-city political corruption before..."(See all of Scott Foundas's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 219 words, 01/17/13
Rob Salem, Toronto Star: POOR(cg) "Brian Tucker has never written a screenplay before. And, all things considered, still hasn't. And should never be allowed to attempt to do so again."(See all of Rob Salem's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 582 words, 01/20/13
Liam Lacey, Toronto Globe & Mail: MODERATE(cg) "Jeffrey Wright, as a Machiavellian police commissioner, transcends so-so-material to establish himself as the most complex character in the film."(See all of Liam Lacey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 418 words, 01/18/13
Phil Brown, Toronto Now: WEAK(cg) "Nothing is what it seems, except for Brian Tucker's derivative screenplay that plays out about as poorly and predictably as possible... thoroughly mediocre and tired..."(See all of Phil Brown's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 289 words, 01/17/13
KEY CITIES (12 Reviews)
Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "The cast across the board feels expertly chosen... there are a few too-convenient plot developments.... overall, this is an entertaining diversion..."(See all of Stephanie Merry's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 547 words, 01/18/13
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: VERY GOOD(cg) "With a squad of able supporting players -- Jeffrey Wright, Barry Pepper, Kyle Chandler -- it rises above its B-movie pedigree. The side stories work well..."(See all of Steven Rea's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 409 words, 01/18/13
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: MODERATE(cg) "Hughes' emphatic style pounds home the story's ironies and shapes the scenes so poorly we're not sure if they've made their point before they're gone... a fractured movie."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 451 words, 01/18/13
Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic: POOR(cg) "...hard-boiled claptrap... take away the profanity and you could have the pilot for a new CBS crime drama, circa 1978.... it can't even generate B-movie thrills."(See all of Randy Cordova's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 314 words, 01/18/13
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: MODERATE(cg) "It's well shot.... But as the implausibilities and conspiracies and double-crosses pile up, the movie paints itself into a corner."(See all of Ty Burr's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 482 words, 01/18/13
Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: VERY GOOD(cg) "Hughes does have a real feel for New York, as does the script by first timer Brian Tucker.... Best is Russell Crowe, as the mayor."(See all of Stephen Whitty's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 562 words, 01/18/13
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: MODERATE(cg) "...mildly entertaining but ultimately less than the sum of its parts. Russell Crowe has a vivid supporting role as the city's smiling, scary mayor."(See all of Mick LaSalle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 556 words, 01/18/13
John Hartl, Seattle Times: WEAK(cg) "...dull and humorless and artificial.... Brian Tucker's script wastes a capable cast... transforms into shameless catalogs of genre clichés..."(See all of John Hartl's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 341 words, 01/18/13
Mike Russell, Portland Oregonian: MODERATE(cg) "...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."(See all of Mike Russell's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 380 words, 01/18/13
Roger Moore, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...what's most entertaining about Brian Tucker's script is the lived-in feel it has.... But 'Broken City' doesn't have a compelling narrative to pull it along."(See all of Roger Moore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 404 words, 01/18/13
Adam Graham, Detroit News: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Hughes moves things along at an efficient pace, but the film's issues -- greed, fraud, justice, morality, even alcoholism -- are dumbed down and sped along..."(See all of Adam Graham's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 247 words, 01/18/13
Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: MODERATE(cg) "...too convoluted to follow and too simplistic to be believed.... What it does have in its favor is the cast.... Still, they're not enough to put all the pieces back together again."(See all of Connie Ogle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 556 words, 01/18/13
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (9 Reviews)
Scott Foundas, Village Voice/LA Weekly: WEAK "...a flaccid, poor man's 'Chinatown'... Nothing is quite as it seems -- unless, of course, you've ever seen a movie about big-city political corruption before..."(See all of Scott Foundas's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 219 words, 01/17/13
Mack Rawden, Cinema Blend: POOR(cg) "...makes a serious effort... but it loses sight of the fact that its primary narrative really isn't that good. Even worse, its characters -- while well-drawn -- aren't fun to watch."(See all of Mack Rawden's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 529 words, 01/17/13
Nathan Rabin, AV Club: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...luxuriates in moral ambiguity in the early going, but it grows less compelling as Wahlberg and Crowe settle into stock hero and villain roles."(See all of Nathan Rabin's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 371 words, 01/17/13
Andrew Schenker, Slant: MODERATE(cg) "...while the film is far from unpleasant to watch, it ultimately feels both overly stuffed and empty... superficially complex... surface-level pretty..."(See all of Andrew Schenker's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 672 words, 01/17/13
Phil Brown, Toronto Now: WEAK(cg) "Nothing is what it seems, except for Brian Tucker's derivative screenplay that plays out about as poorly and predictably as possible... thoroughly mediocre and tired..."(See all of Phil Brown's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 289 words, 01/17/13
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: WEAK "The only reason to see this dreary parade of deception and venality is Wahlberg's performance... he can find his own grounded reality in the falsest of surroundings."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 233 words, 01/18/13
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...if you don't listen to the dialogue too hard, if you tune out a bit and instead watch the screen, then 'Broken City' satisfies like the solid B movie it is."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 887 words, 01/18/13
Mark Jenkins, NPR: MODERATE "If it is more notable for attitude and ambiance than plotting, it does pose some lingering mysteries. But these may have less to do with the script than with edits."(See all of Mark Jenkins's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 538 words, 01/17/13
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: WEAK "Hughes has allowed the high wire everyone is walking to go slack... the double crosses lack punch, the threats sound empty... nothing clicks, nothing resonates..."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 821 words, 01/18/13
Dana Stevens, Slate: FAIR "...run-of-the-mill... for most of its running time this underachieving political thriller just sort of plods along, hitting its genre marks with little concern for originality or style."(See all of Dana Stevens's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 700 words, 01/17/13
MOVIE INDUSTRY (5 Reviews)
Justin Chang, Variety: MODERATE "...so-so... wants to be a gritty, expansive epic of moral and urban decay.... an unpersuasive marriage of head-slamming action and middling civic intrigue..."(See all of Justin Chang's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 639 words, 01/16/13
Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: MODERATE "...would have made for a fine film noir 60 years ago but feels rather contrived and unbelievable in the setting of contemporary New York.... it's never really convincing..."(See all of Todd McCarthy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 651 words, 01/16/13
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: WEAK "Hughes has allowed the high wire everyone is walking to go slack... the double crosses lack punch, the threats sound empty... nothing clicks, nothing resonates..."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 821 words, 01/18/13
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...if you don't listen to the dialogue too hard, if you tune out a bit and instead watch the screen, then 'Broken City' satisfies like the solid B movie it is."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 887 words, 01/18/13
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: WEAK "The only reason to see this dreary parade of deception and venality is Wahlberg's performance... he can find his own grounded reality in the falsest of surroundings."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 233 words, 01/18/13
15.3 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
Broken City's reviews are separated by an average 15.3 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
Broken City (45 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:Broken City's reviews cover 85.3% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 22,589 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 502 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Broken City Coverage, Volume & Length (45 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 12.3 Hours After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
Broken City's reviews on average broke 12.3 hours after opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is Broken City's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
Broken City (45 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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