Movie #136........................."New York, I Love You"

Movie #136 "New York, I Love You" was a huge letdown. I was looking forward to seeing this; in fact, I saved it for Valentine's Day, thinking I'd be dazzled with a bunch of vignettes, like the companion piece in Paris, which I really liked. This couldn't hold my interest; I liked two of the stories, with a lukewarm response to two others. The best one, to me, was good because it concerned seeing Eli Wallach and Cloris Leacham playing off of each other. They represented the thousands of elderly people I've often seen walking the streets of NYC daily, and it was fun to see them work again. Another one was written by the late Anthony Minghella (in fact, the movie is in tribute to him) with Julie Christie and Shia Labeoff ------- I thought that one worked because it had a good story from beginning to end. Natalie Portman is always fun to watch, so her vignette (directed by Mira Nair) was good, along with the one she directed. But Four out of a possible 10 does not make a film I would recommend. I LOVE NEW YORK CITY, but I didn't even like this movie much. Too bad. Rent Woody Allen's "Manhattan" --- oh so much better!

Average rating: 2.975
I gave it a 2
New York, I Love You
(2008) R
A companion piece to Paris, je t'aime, this valentine to New York cleverly blends nearly a dozen love stories, each presented by a different filmmaker. From Central Park to Brooklyn and Queens, each tale features the Big Apple as a central character. The writer-directors include Natalie Portman and Brett Ratner, and the cast features Shia LaBeouf, James Caan, Julie Christie, Christina Ricci, Ethan Hawke and dozens more.