Following in the illustrious footsteps of "Paris, Je T'aime", this anthology of Big Apple tales can't help but suffer by comparison. While "Paris" captured a vivid cross-section of citizens in a fascinating array of life situations, "New York" offers a spectrum of characters ranging from A to maybe D. This lack of range is especially disappointing given its focus city. Despite the vast possibilities of NYC these stories seem fixated on a rather juvenile boy-meets-girl theme. Beginning with a cryptic 3 character offering starring Hayden Christiansen, Rachel Bilson and Andy Garcia in a bar, the film takes us through a kinky prom night (Anton Yelchin and Olivia Thirlby), a painter's (Ugur Yucel) obsession with a woman who works in a dry cleaner's shop, an annoying pick-up artist (Ethan Hawke) who meets his match (Maggie Q) and an elderly couple's (Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman) querulous journey to the beach. Additional stories include the attraction between an Indian diamond worker (Irrfan Khan) and a Hassidic Jewish woman (Natalie Portman) who's about to be married, a smoking break on the sidewalk between 2 strangers (Chris Cooper and Robin Wright) and the musings of a one night stand couple (Drea De Matteo and Bradley Cooper) who find themselves wondering why they can't walk away from their encounter. The most effective stories for me, however, were the ones which deviated from the couples scenario. In an almost mystical segment written by Anthony Minghella and starring Julie Christie, Shia LaBeouf and John Hurt the ghostlike events leave us with all sorts of riveting possibilities. Another story involving a father's (Carlos Acosta) bittersweet day out with his young daughter includes all the nuances and romantic images that are missing from most of the other tales.
New York City is, of course, the extra character in each story yet was somehow sadly minimalized as a locale. The energy, diversity and sheer charisma of this great city never comes across as effectively as it should and certainly NYC deserves better. Also missing in action are some of the great New York actors who might have given the film more authenticity: Harvey Keitel, Tim Robbins, Annabella Sciorra, John Leguizamo, Taye Diggs, Rosario Dawson. Maybe they weren't available for an indie project such as this one, but surely a wider variety of ethic groups could have been represented here. This movie strikes me as a missed opportunity that calls out for a re-do.
Things to love about this movie: A brief but gorgeous dance performance by Carlos Acosta; the Shekhar Kapur-directed, Anthony Minghella-written "Hotel Suite" segment; the always terrific Robin Wright (even if she's wasted on a nothing story)
Things to hate about this movie: The totally pointless opening segment which starts everything off on the wrong note; too much cutesie coupling, not enough New York or variety of characters
Pleasant surprises: Drea de Matteo is actually shown riding the subway
Unpleasant surprises: Orlando Bloom's scenery chewing appearance in a lame story with Christina Ricci; no mention of Broadway (c'mon, this is NYC)
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