New York, I Love You

New York, I Love You is a 2008 American romantic comedy-drama anthology film consisting of eleven short films, each by a different director. The shorts all relate in some way to the subject of love, and are set among the five boroughs of New York City. The film is a sequel of sorts to the 2006 film Paris, je t'aime, which had the same structure, and is the second installment in the Cities of Love franchise, created and produced by Emmanuel Benbihy. Unlike Paris, je t'aime, the shorts of New York, I Love You all have a unifying thread, of a videographer who films the other characters.

New York, I Love You
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Written bySee below
Produced byEmmanuel Benbihy
Marina Grasic
StarringSee below
Cinematography
Edited by
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed byVivendi Entertainment
Release dates
  • September 2008 (2008-09) (TIFF)
  • October 16, 2009 (2009-10-16) (United States)[1]
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$9.7 million[2]

The film stars an ensemble cast, among them Bradley Cooper, Shia LaBeouf, Natalie Portman, Anton Yelchin, Hayden Christensen, Orlando Bloom, Irrfan Khan, Rachel Bilson, Chris Cooper, Andy García, Christina Ricci, John Hurt, Cloris Leachman, Robin Wright, Julie Christie, Maggie Q, Ethan Hawke, James Caan, Shu Qi, and Eli Wallach.

New York, I Love You premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival in September 2008, and was released in the United States on October 16, 2009. While the TIFF premiere of the film featured 14 novellas, distributors later decided to cut two of them: Scarlett Johansson's directorial debut "These Vagabond Shoes" and Andrei Zvyagintsev's novella "Apocrypha". The decision was taken after a focus screening in New York, where these two shorts were met with unfavorable reactions.[3]

Cast and crew

Following is the cast and crew of ten segments of New York, I Love You with the transition segment directed by Randy Balsmeyer:[4]

SegmentDirectorWriterActors
1Jiang WenHu Hong & Meng Yao
Adaptation: Israel Horovitz
Hayden Christensen as Ben
Andy García as Garry
Rachel Bilson as Molly
2Mira NairSuketu MehtaNatalie Portman as Rifka Malone
Irrfan Khan as Mansuhkhbai
3Shunji IwaiAdaptation: Israel HorovitzOrlando Bloom as David Cooler
Christina Ricci as Camille
4Yvan AttalOlivier LecotMaggie Q as Janice Taylor
Ethan Hawke as Writer
Chris Cooper as Alex
Robin Wright Penn as Anna
5Brett RatnerJeff NathansonAnton Yelchin as Boy
James Caan as Mr. Riccoli
Olivia Thirlby as Actress
Blake Lively as Gabrielle DiMarco
6Allen HughesXan Cassavetes & Stephen WinterBradley Cooper as Gus
Drea de Matteo as Lydia
7Shekhar KapurAnthony MinghellaJulie Christie as Isabelle
John Hurt as Bellhop
Shia LaBeouf as Jacob
8Natalie PortmanNatalie PortmanTaylor Geare as Teya
Carlos Acosta as Dante
Jacinda Barrett as Maggie
9Fatih AkınFatih AkınUğur Yücel as Painter
Shu Qi as Chinese herbalist
Burt Young as Landlord
10Joshua MarstonJoshua MarstonEli Wallach as Abe
Cloris Leachman as Mitzie
transitionsRandy BalsmeyerHall Powell, Israel Horovitz & James StrouseEmilie Ohana as Zoe, the Video Artist
Eva Amurri as Sarah
Justin Bartha as Justin

Release

The film grossed $1,588,087 in the United States, and $8,136,973 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $9,725,060.[2][5]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 37% approval rating based on 100 reviews, with an average rating of 5.10/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Like many anthologies, New York, I Love You has problems of consistency, but it isn't without its moments".[6] On Metacritic it holds a score of 49 out of 100, based on reviews from 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[7]

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B regarding the film "takes the wrinkle-free, easy-travel concept first executed in the 2007 Gallic compilation Paris, je t'aime to a new city and styles itself..."[8] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 stars saying in his review, "By its nature, "New York, I Love You" can't add up. It remains the sum of its parts."[9] A. O. Scott of The New York Times gave the film a mixed review claiming "Not that the 11 shorts in New York, I Love You are all that bad. It's a nice-looking city, after all, even if the interstitial skyline and traffic montages assembled by Randy Balsmeyer are about as fresh as the postcards on sale in Times Square."[10] Lou Lumenick of the New York Post gave the film 1 star claiming "there were two additional segments that have since been cut. So you'll have to wait for the DVD to see just how bad Scarlett Johansson's directing debut is."[11]

Erica Abeel of The Hollywood Reporter writes:

New York, I Love You continues the Cities of Love series that began with Paris, je t'aime far surpassing it... The vignettes are tied together into a single feature through a recurrent character, a videographer who interacts with the other characters. And transitional elements—choreographed by 11th director Randy Balsmeyer—move the viewer from one world to another, uniting all these intimate stories into a single shimmering fabric.[12]

Heidi Patalano of Metro New York gives the film a 4 grade out of 5.

With younger, less-tested directing talent, the film plays down the delineation between one director's work and another, opting to blend them through loosely interconnected characters here and there. As opposed to its directing roster, however, the cast boasts quite a few big names, all of which lend a surprising amount of authenticity to these funny, imaginative little stories.[13]

Claudia Puig of USA Today explains that anthologies are by their very nature an uneven entity and adds:

The multicultural emphasis—both in characters and in the unusual selection and collaboration of filmmakers and artists—is one of New York, I Love You's main assets. And there's no question that Manhattan looks ever-vibrant and beautiful.[14]

An episode of the Netflix series Master of None is named and structured after New York, I Love You.[15] Like the film, the episode follows the intersecting lives of various New Yorkers, although the episode's stories are not exclusively about romance.

The series finale of the American show Gossip Girl was titled "New York, I Love You XOXO" based on the film's title.

References

  1. "New York, I Love You in October". Slashfilm. Archived from the original on 2010-08-17. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  2. "New York, I Love You (2009) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
  3. "Apocrypha". Andrey Zvyagintsev. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
  4. New York, I Love You (DVD). Vivendi Entertainment.
  5. "New York, I Love You (2009)". Box Office Mojo.
  6. "New York, I Love You (2009)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. 16 October 2009. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
  7. "New York, I Love You Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2020-03-23.
  8. "New York, I Love You Review - Entertainment Weekly". Entertainment Weekly. 2009-10-16. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  9. Roger Ebert (2009-10-14). "You can make it here, but you can't make it everywhere". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
  10. Scott, A. O. (2009-10-16). "Manhattan Is for Lovers: Two by Two by Two by ..." The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  11. Lumenick, Lou (2009-10-16). "Big Applesauce". New York Post. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  12. "New York, I Love You Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. 2009-10-05. Archived from the original on October 8, 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
  13. "'New York' falls to beautiful pieces". Metro New York. 2009-10-15. Archived from the original on 2010-02-23. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
  14. Puig, Claudia (2009-10-15). "New York, I Love You harbors surprises as well as the sub-par". USA Today. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
  15. "New York, I Love You". IMDb.
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