Bugin as Morty the Waiter Lauren Vélez as Elaine Santos Fritz Hollings, the then-current U.S. Senator from South Carolina, plays Senator Marquand, whom Pappas and Calhoun lobby in order to land the Democratic National convention. Former New York City mayor and presiding judge of The People's Court Ed Koch also has a brief cameo in a political commentary segment of a TV news broadcast. Reception Critical response On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 56% based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "City Hall explores political corruption with commendable intelligence, but this web of scandal struggles to coalesce into satisfying drama." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert gave the film two-and-a-half out of four stars and wrote, "Many of the parts of City Hall are so good that the whole should add up to more, but it doesn't." Box office The film was released on February 16, 1996 in 1,815 theatres. It debuted at number 4 at the United States box office, grossing $8 million. For its second weekend, it landed at number 6, grossing $13.8 million. The film grossed $20.3 million in the U.S. and Canada and $13.1 million internationally for a worldwide total of $33.4 million. References External links 1996 films 1996 drama films American political drama films Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Films shot in New Jersey Castle Rock Entertainment films Columbia Pictures films Films directed by Harold Becker Films scored by Jerry Goldsmith Films with screenplays by Paul Schrader Films with screenplays by Bo Goldman 1990s English-language films 1990s American films