gridoon2018 Much inferior follow-up to an anthology film with an almost perfect track record. I cannot think of one episode I would particularly recommend; some are in fact decidedly UNromantic (if nothing else, this film shows the difference in French and American sensibilities). This time they tried to shake up the formula by having some characters from different vignettes cross paths, or by adding "twists" that make little sense, but if it ain't broke why try to fix it? Even New York is, with the exception of a couple of shots, drably photographed. *1/2 out of 4.

SnoopyStyle These are approximately a dozen stories taking place in NYC. Some of them are interconnected. There are some good, some bad and some indifferent.1. Hayden Christensen is a thief flirting with Rachel Bilson. That's a scary acting duo. The arrival of Andy García does not necessarily save it.2. Natalie Portman is a religious Jewish buyer who is about to get married and Irrfan Khan is an Indian seller. This is an unusual and fascinating pairing. These are the interesting stuff that makes this movie worthwhile.3. Orlando Bloom is a composer talking to lovely Christina Ricci on the phone who is urging him to finish his work. This is one of those indifferent ones. Exactly how interesting is somebody talking on the phone? 4. Ethan Hawke flirts with Maggie Q after lighting her cigarette. She turns out to be a prostitute. OMG. Ethan Hawke is doing 'Before Sunrise' except a bit edgier and sexually provocative.5. After Anton Yelchin got stood up for prom by Blake Lively, James Caan sets him up with his daughter Olivia Thirlby except she's in a wheelchair. They end up having sex. This is a good one with a fun ending.6. Bradley Cooper and Drea de Matteo are meeting up for a date and we hear their interior monologues. This idea is more interesting on the pages than on the screen.7. Gimpy Shia LaBeouf helps Julie Christie settle into her hotel room. Shia's father John Hurt works at the front desk. It's a bit too desperate to be artistic.8. Carlos Acosta is caring for little girl Taylor Geare as he brings her to Jacinda Barrett. People assume he's a manny. I like the locations but the unknown relationship isn't as interesting as writer/director Natalie Portman hopes. After all, Jeff Goldblum had a black kid when he faced dinosaurs.9. Painter Ugur Yücel buys from herbalist Shu Qi. He asks her out but dies before the date.10. Robin Wright Penn starts talking to stranger Chris Cooper on the street while having a smoke but are they strangers? This could be more but they don't even fully use the time that they're given.11. Eva Amurri is arguing with boyfriend Justin Bartha and he decides to spontaneously buy a trip to Rome.12. Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman are an elderly couple. Two veterans doing aimless conversations while on a very long walk.Emilie Ohana is a video artist who pops up from time to time.

Curtis Medina I've recently been talking with someone close to me about what "love" really is and really isn't. The thing people think love is often isn't truly what it should be defined as. In the case of New York, I Love You what is presented as the follow up to the uniquely crafted tales of love gained and lost in Paris entitled Paris J'taime (or Paris I Love You) ends up being not so much an American remake as a bunch of immature kids trying to recreate the magic they see their adult counterparts doing. Every tale here is about things related to love, but is actually a diversion from love... the sort of story you tell someone about when you were in kindergarten and you had your first erection... no not love... just a sign that you may be seeking it. While Paris J'taime had tales of actors rekindling their love for each other and the stage OR an actress finding love in the comfort of an unlikely blind companion NEW YORK I LOVE YOU tells the tales of a man's depraved fantasy of having sex with a disabled woman hanging from a tree. It is amazing that the producers let these projects go out "as-is" given how it severely wrecked the franchise, the original artistic premise and seriously made American's look like our idea of romance is children looking under girls skirts. It's low class, amateur hour filmmaking and writing and the only excuse I can come up with is that unlike the first film, which though it had 21 unique world class filmmakers managed to have a congruity to its overall tone that brought it all together, this film seems like a bunch of film students running around on a 48hr film festival. It is a cheap adaptation and I'm sorry to say I saw it in theaters. What can you expect when you have a ton of filmmakers like pop-icon Brett Ratner and actors attempting to be filmmakers like Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansen. This shouldn't be a showcase for new directors... this should be a showcase for world class filmmakers who really know, understand and have proved themselves with a New York sensibility. Where's Woody Allen's contribution? Where is Coppola? Where are the voices of New York, new or old, that could have made this film as impactive and memorable as the Paris counterpart? All together this is an embarrassing failure.

Roland E. Zwick Replete with an all-star cast and a roster of A-list directors too numerous to mention, "New York, I Love You" is an omnibus tribute to Manhattan's powers as an aphrodisiac. The movie strings together a dozen or so vignettes in which random couples meet and share a few significant moments together - all against the backdrop of a city steeped in vibrancy, color and romance.As is to be expected with this type of film, the episodes themselves vary somewhat in quality and interest, but with no real standout amongst them. My favorite, if I had to choose, would probably be a charmer about a virginal teen who winds up taking a wheelchair-bound date to the prom. The actors aren't given much of a chance to develop their characters, though, interestingly, the best performance (by the perpetually elegant Julie Christie) and the worst performance (by the mannered Shia LaBeouf) are to be found in the same segment.Of course, this is a largely upscale view of the city - predominantly white, gentrified and problem-free - that never gets north of the Park in its geography. Still, the movie takes its place alongside such earlier works as "Tokyo!" and "Paris, je t'amie" as an affectionate and generally watchable love-letter to the town it calls home.