New York, I Love You

Editorial

Passions come to life in this collaboration of storytelling from some of today's most imaginative filmmakers and featuring an all-star cast. Together they create a kaleidoscope of the spontaneous, surprising, electrifying human connections that pump the city's heartbeat. Sexy, funny, haunting and revealing encounters unfold beneath the Manhattan skyline.
Coming in the wake of Paris, Je T'aime is New York, I Love You. As with its Gallic-inspired predecessor, this collection of short love stories (set in The Big Apple, naturally) is the work of a diverse slate of directors and actors. As with Paris, Je T'aime, the sum of its parts don't add up to a satisfying whole.

As much a love letter to the city as it is a portrait of love within the five boroughs, New York, I Love You succeeds in capturing the diversity of the city's stories and inhabitants. Only occasionally, though, does it truly engage on an emotional level, such as when Robin Wright Penn propositions Chris Cooper outside a restaurant, or Anton Yelchin takes a young disabled girl (Olivia Thirlby) to the prom. 

By the time Cloris Leachman and Eli Wallach journey to Coney Island, however, this really does feel like the disjointed set of ideas that it is. Caring about the assortment of new characters that are introduced every few minutes becomes increasingly difficult.

Simon Jones