Boston Crime Movies are a very specific subsection of the sprawling crime drama genre.
They usually revolve around criminals of Irish descent armed with scally caps, a penchant for whiskey and problematic family histories that stunt them emotionally who are pursued by equally Irish, damaged, and alcohol dependent law enforcement officials. The dialogue is bathed in profanity. The grittiness of the mood can be felt under your finger nails. And by the end everything is covered in blood, tears, and broken dreams as a chorus of tin whistles and bagpipe wails in the background over montages from a Red Sox game.
When done right, we’re given classic crime dramas like The Departed and Mystic River, or diehard cult favorites like Boondock Saints or The Town. Ben Affleck has literally built his directorial career on films where the R’s are dropped as quick as the bullets and the bodies.
When done wrong you get something like 2015’s Black Mass or any number of poorly done “Southie” crime dramas. The accents are forced. The plot lacks the grit, and the intensity. Everything feels like its shoehorned for the sake of checking the boxes of the genre.
Showtimes new crime series, City on a Hill, falls into the second category. The premiere, which aired Sunday night at 9 p.m., came off like the equivalent of a tap beer that kicks right as its being poured. You’re anticipating a nice cold pint but when all the foam and detritus comes out the tap you sit there disappointed, and frustrated you’ve got to wait until a new keg is tapped properly.
City on a Hill, like the idea of a cold beer, sounds terrific. You’ve got Kevin Bacon returning to the Boston Crime genre playing an charming bastard of a federal agent. Then there’s the wildly underrated Jonathan Tucker portraying the emotionally wounded Irish criminal — a role he seems born to play. Plus, you’ve got all the promises of a good Boston Crime drama — bank robbery, big action sequences, gritty dialogue, intense dramatic interplay between characters. Plus you’ve got Affleck and Matt Damon signed on as executive producers — how can this show not be great?
Liked that kicked beer City on a Hill is all foam and detritus. It’s lacking any sort of body, or flavor. This is because the series desperately attempts to check off all the boxes of the Boston Crime genre. The premiere episode feels like they retrofitted a political drama on top of The Town.
Literally, the bank robbers have the same style, and characteristics of those in the Affleck penned/starring/directed thriller. They even shoehorn the “loser brother” storyline from another Boston-inspired series Ray Donovan into this part of the series. Luckily, Jonathan Tucker’s smoldering yet sympathetic performance keeps the lesser parts of this arc of the series in check.
The political drama feels like a forced backdrop to put Bacon’s federal agent Jackie Rohr and Aldis Hodge’s attorney Decourcy Ward together. The dialogue and direction for these two characters is wildly over-the-top. We get it. They’re both stubborn, arrogant, and determined. However, these points are driven home so many times, and in such cliche ways (Rohr is a bad husband/father, Ward arrogantly passed on an easier higher paid job) that you honestly don’t want to invest in either character.
Luckily, you’ve got Kevin Bacon in this series. The man is an absolute pro and can work with any script — no matter the quality or convolution. His innate likability, and unending charisma take this character of excesses and grounds him. Hodge, by the end of the premiere, is able to find traction in a character that is all over the place. Their final scene together is easily the best part of the premiere, and gives you hope this series could get better with time.
Going backed to the kicked beer analogy, City on a Hill’s premiere is the pint full of foam and bottle of the barrel dreck. However, there is still hope. The final two scenes are like the promise of that new keg coming. We’re gifted a terrifically written/performed scene between Hodge and Bacon, and a major plot twist. If the show allows its actors to do the heavy lifting, and the plot sheds its desperation to be like The Town or The Departed and focuses on the plot at the hand — City on a Hill could be something special.
City on a Hill airs Sunday nights at 9 p.m. on Showtime. The premiere episode is currently streaming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byN6yQ8e9nc
