Unless getting the flu, or going to the dentist is something you enjoy than stay away from Broken City – it’s just as painful. This is a crime drama with little plot, a supposed who-done-the double crossing, which by the time it’s easily revealed you don’t care, and a terrific cast that is so wasted you can’t even imagine them as these characters.

Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) was once a cop in New York City. He was good, and he loved his job. But then he did something he wasn’t supposed to and that career came to an end. After hitting the bottle too hard and eventually cleaning up, Billy now works as a private detective.

The thing he can’t shake is his anger at what happened and he can’t channel what happened into the box labeled I did this to myself. The only good thing in his life seems to be his fiancée Natalie (Natalie Martinez) who is an actress. They seem to hit it off until her job takes more time away from Billy, and his depression about his situation deepens.

Luckily as Billy canvases some old acquaintances luck turns his way. He gets a call from Mayor Hostetler (Russell Crowe) who remembers Billy’s spunkiness and hires him to trail his wife Cathleen (Catherine Zeta-Jones) as he believes she’s having an affair.

There’s a lot of boring politics involved with a Mayor runoff looming between Hostetler and Jack Valliant (Barry Pepper), who has his own dirty laundry he’s reluctant to bring out of the hamper.