New York, I Love You 020210

This movie is about. Umm... it um. Hmmm... It’s about love. I guess. It’s several short films about love in New York woven together into a film tapestry.

This movie is very intriguing to a number of people. Foreign film fans will be drawn to it because it’s a revision of a French film, Paris, je’Taime. Casual viewers will be interested because of the monstrous cast list. The names I recognize are, Bradley Cooper, Rachel Bilson, Natalie Portman, Shia LeBeouf, Justin Bartha, Orlando Bloom, Hayden Christensen, Ethan Hawke, Anton Yelchin, John Hurt, Christina Ricci, Robin Wright Penn, James Caan, Chris Cooper, Andy Garcia, Maggie Q, and Julie Christie. Several of the stories are really engaging and/or fun. One about an elderly couple is very sweet to see them fighting like old couples do, only to get lost in reminiscence of years spent in love before being awakened to the present once again. One about the romance between a composer and his patron’s assistant will have most girls thinking aw.... And, though quick, one vignette about a boyfriend surprising his girlfriend is entertaining, sweet, funny, and thoughtful in around a minute. Kudos to them.

Now the bad. I admit my own shortcomings and many may not be in this state after watching this but I didn’t get most of these. Most were too brief and unclear. All of the snapshots were made by different directors and I feel that was good for offering each one a different touch, but it needed a head director to oversee everything. There is no reason to the story order. Some are even cut into separate parts without really building on each other. Frequently the change in directing is jarring and the transitions are barely. Some of the bad ones felt like they could’ve been good ones but there was no time for story development and it felt rushed. That may have been the idea. I don’t know. This isn’t my type of movie.

My grade for this is a C. I liked some of the stories, was okay with some, and really didn’t like others. If you’re like me you won’t enjoy the whole thing. If you think the American Pie movies are brilliant, you’ll hate this. If you like foreign, indy, or art films you’ll probably really like this and see me as a pathetic philistine but I’m okay with that you elitist, frog kisser.