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New Yorkers Hate New York, I Love You

Anthology has its moments, but only for generous critics

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 16, 2009 3:35 PM CDT

(Newser) – Not everyone hates New York, I Love You—Roger Ebert, for example, found the anthology a “jumble sale” containing “some nice discoveries.” But the New York-based critics sure weren’t sold. Here’s what they’re saying:

Filmmakers had just 2 days to shoot their 6-minute segments. “There were, however, no mandates to create interesting characters or avoid self indulgence,” laments Rafer Guzmán of Newsday. “In nearly every instance, fine actors spout drivel.”

“What’s remarkable here is the consistency of the mediocrity, the uniform fraudulence of the minipremises,” writes Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal. “Everyone’s insufferable, because everyone is afflicted with mock poetry.”
The stories come off like “classroom assignments in an undergraduate fiction-writing class,” says AO Scott of the New York Times. The out-of-town directors create a too-sweet, too-precious “fantasy city” where “no one would want to live, much less visit.”

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In this film publicity image released by Vivendi Entertainment, Julie Christie, left, and Shia LaBeouf are shown in a scene from, "New York, I Love You." (AP Photo/Vivendi Entertainment)

In this film publicity image released by Vivendi Entertainment, from left, Rachel Bilson, Andy Garcia and Hayden Christensen are shown in a scene from, "New York, I Love You." (AP Photo/Vivendi Entertainment)

In this film publicity image released by Vivendi Entertainment, Cloris Leachman, left, and Eli Wallach are shown in a scene from, "New York, I Love You." (AP Photo/Vivendi Entertainment)

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Each segment ends with a simplistic twist; all that's missing is a trumpet going "wah-wah-wah." - Rafer Guzman

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New Yorkers Hate New York, I Love You