Review of New York, I Love You (2008) by Ronald S — 03 Apr 2010

New York, I Love You comes from the "makers" (though, none of the awesome directors) of Paris, je t'aime. Though, where that film succeeds, this film falters.

Sure, there are some notable disappointments in Paris, je t'aime, but the good out weighed the bad. Here? Unfortunately, the bad out weighed the one or two good shorts found throughout. The biggest problem I have with this film is how a lot of the shorts blend together. How many of them had to involve a guy or girl on their cell phone? Or two people smoking outside a building? I also kind of got tired of all the white actors, not going to lie. There were some minorities here and there, but they were very under represented.

Another thing that got me was the lack of homosexual relationships being represented. Paris, je t'aime told vastly different stories about all different kinds of love. This film told several similar stories about white man A and white woman B falling in love over a cigarette outside a restaurant. Love shouldn't be held into these constraints. There are so many different types of love out there and for this to be a film about love in New York, a place with so many vastly different people, it was not up to snuff. Plus, a lot of the stories were just plain boring.

And where are my beautiful shots of the city? One of the great things about Paris, je t'aime is seeing the camera make love to the beautiful city of Paris in between the different stories. For some reason we don't get that here at all. I love New York. It's possibly my favorite place in the world (Austin is neck and neck). For this movie to be about New York, the people of New York, and love in New York, it is inexcusable to not have shots of that beautiful city.

There are a few quality shorts in this and the acting is pretty decent, but overall, it's pretty boring and not as enjoyable as its predecessor. It's too bad. There's a lot of promise in an idea like this.