Motherless Brooklyn

Based on Jonathan Lethem’s book, Motherless Brooklyn follows Tourette’s-afflicted private investigator Lionel Essrog (Edward Norton) as he unravels a massive conspiracy while looking into the murder of his mentor (Bruce Willis’ Frank Minna). The degree to which Motherless Brooklyn eventually fizzles out is nothing short of devastating, as filmmaker Norton delivers a fairly promising first act that evocatively captures 1950s New York City and establishes a series of promisingly intriguing characters – with, in terms of the latter, Norton’s often captivating work as the tic-laden protagonist certainly standing as an ongoing highlight. (Alec Baldwin steals his few scenes with his turn as a smarmy politician, as well.) It’s only as the movie chugs into its episodic and progressively uninvolving midsection that Motherless Brooklyn begins to demonstrably lose its hold on the viewer, as screenwriter Norton offers up a mostly impenetrable narrative that’s almost entirely lacking in an entry point – which, in turn, ensures that much of the picture’s second act contains exceedingly little to embrace (ie its all just so dense and mechanical). The inclusion of a few character-based moments does sporadically help alleviate the otherwise punishingly inert atmosphere (eg Lionel confronts Baldwin’s Moses Randolph in a public bath), and it seems fairly apparent, ultimately, that reading Lethem’s novel is a prerequisite for enjoying (and following) the film’s arms-length storyline.

*1/2 out of ****