Review of 2 Days in New York (2012) by Rainer K — 08 Feb 2013

Julie Delpy must have a big family trauma.

The way she deals with the craziness of patchwork-cosmopolitical life of upper class artist 40-somethings reminds me a bit of Woody Allen - without the great dialogue though.

The concept of her 2 Days... films seems borrowed from Linklater's Before... series.

Like 2 Days in Paris, Delpy's sequel runs totally out of steam after about half an hour. Her real-life father Albert Delpy is still the highlight of the film as her in-film father who comes to visit her in her New York apartment. After the death of his wife (the real-life mother of Julie) he should be more grieving though - and less perverted. On his trip he's accompanied by his other daughter Rose (Alexia Landeau) and her pot-smoking boyfriend Manu (Alex Nahon).

Rose starts hitting on everyone she encounters (like in the first movie) while Manu is a total dumbass.

Chris Rock completes the ensembles as Delpy's boyfriend Mingus (rhymes with cunnilingus). I've never been very big on him, but again he's the best-written of all the characters and even a tiny bit better than Adam Goldberg from the previous film.

As I said, the film is quite funny for a while, seeing the Frenchies trying to fit into US lifestyle and some good jokes at the dinner table but it seems that Delpy just doesn't have much talent in closing a story.

Too many improbable twists and ideas hurt the story up to the point where it's just not believable anymore, and the ending is pretty atrocious.

It's not a bad film, even quite skillfully made, but I couldn't tell which target audience it could serve. I love Woody Allen and Richard Linklater, but I find next to nothing in Julie Delpy's directorial efforts that would win me over.