City Hall (1996)

(On TV, September 2000) John Cusack junkies will love the film, which shows him in the mold of the smart-proper-clean-cool protagonists he does best. Plus, he gets the chance to act against Al Pacino, which is always fun to see. Non-fans won’t be as enthusiastic about this film, which constantly shows signs of being brilliant, but has to settle for being merely okay. You’d think that a city-wide plot about crime, power and corruption in New York City to be involving, but not really. The film goes through the motions but never sparks and finally kills itself at a train stop scene. The final few minutes are predictable. Too bad.