A Rainy Day in New York [DVD]

This has the usual Woody Allen themes of boy has girl, loses girl , meets another girl . It has the usual Allen humour in it. Of course it isn't Manhattan or Hannah and her Sisters but it's streets ahead of anything turned out by anyone else. As usual the direction and scenes are excellent. Well worth watching

Considering the general reviews surrounding this film, and the lengthy delay in it actually getting released, it would be easy to assume that it wasn't very good. In my view it is very close to being a latter day classic.It certainly has all the ingredients; the Manhattan location, a "Woody Allen like" main protagonist, perfect jazz music soundtrack, romance, cynicism, humour, a well selected cast, with the two lead actors in particular excellent, but with good work from the rest of the cast.It all unfolds over a day, and yes it does rain! The story is slight, and highly improbable, but I found myself immersed in the little world created over this rainy weekend, and thoroughly enjoyed the film.It may not be Annie Hall or Hannah and Her Sisters, but it's pretty good nonetheless. Not top tier then, but very good second tier, and one of my favourites of his work over the last 20 years.

Chalamet plays the self doubting, eccentric art loving non conformist intellectual that Woody would play in his own films. With a cast of eccentric characters, great one liners, fabulous cinematography and soundtrack. Chalamet and Elle Fanning's acting is great. The pace is fast, a journey of unpredictability.

Sigh! Woody Allen churning out yet another dull film populated with his own immature fantasies (characters and plot).The central male character, Gatsby, is chokingly tedious and unrealistic. I'm shocked that after so many films Allen is still trying to ejaculate his neurosis on to the audience in order for us to see how profoundly clever and brilliant and nuanced and tender he is. Gatsby is an embodiment of Allen - lacking self awareness in his jerky, pretentious, self-absorbed and self-congratulatory behaviours but judging everyone else around him.The script is an abomination: affected soundbites loosely strung together (with desperation for the audience to understand the subtext).Character development is odd and flat.Law and Fanning's performances were bordering on sad. The way they had been contorted in to these unconvincing oddball characters was misjudged, and the actors' strengths could have been played to more.Even the patchy rain was done badly.Nevertheless it was a slightly amusing distraction to have in the background whilst focussing on something much more worthwhile.

I loved it. It's romantic, funny, intelligent, and keeps you totally guessing about the ending. Well played. I am in love with it.

I watched this on Prime - a new(ish) Woody Allen film, a romantic comedy, set in New York, what could go wrong? Surprisingly less than the critics would have you believe. On first watch, the film does have some unusual elements. Firstly, it's often been the case that Allen's dialogue can sound like it is coming straight from his mouth, but often it's only one actor that sounds like that. In this film, a number of the cast seem to be channelling him, but I find younger actors spouting words that only people over 80 (from Brooklyn) would say quite amusing. First, there's the central character, played by Timothée Chalamet, wearing the obligatory cord clothes, and sneakers, 'Woody's outfit'. He likes gambling and the seedy side of life, jazz etc. What's wrong with that? (Selena Gomez lends a sweet romantic counterbalance to the main character.) Then you've got his girlfriend, a wonderful turn by Elle Fanning, playing a Tucson bred college newspaper writer, cooky, who also has a very much Allen-esque way of spluttering out humorous dialogue, especially when embarrassed, when she hiccups. All very endearing. Then later she ends-up in a car with a filmmaker (not the only one of that noble profession in the film) played by Jude Law, who's also got an attack of the Allens. The point is, none of this matters. You accept it, because it's a Woody Allen film. There are great locations, Vittorio Storaro's cinematography, joyous music, largely from Erroll Garner, and a number of Allen's characters we have all seen before. One excellent turn is played by the actor and writer Ben Warheit, a truly unpleasant and unfortunate person, the sort that no-one wants to meet, written and delivered with such relish. Sprinkle over a charmingly romantic theme of rainfall on NYC and you have a love story made for the big screen. But we'll all have to put up with the small one for now. It's not real life, that's for sure, and all the better for it.

Don't believe all the newspaper reviews, this is a really enjoyable movie. Okay if you dislike Woody Allen, this isn't for you. If you do like his movies, this is certainly one of the better ones in recent years.

Obviously the quality of Woody Allen's output varies pretty wildly these days - nobody could keep up the string of masterpieces that he was coming out with at one time, but films like this one demonstrate that his talent still burns. Not as brightly as in his younger days obviously but even a lesser film from Allen is still more interesting than the bulk of other releases.It's a sweet romcom but with enough bite and cynicism to keep it spiky. The dialogue is from an old man who doesn't know how young people speak and it's all the better for that. He's not chasing contemporary references or worrying about authenticity - just telling a fun story. New York looks beautiful, there are some great performances, unpredictable plotting and the occasional clunker of a line but nothing that derails the film.A very respectable addition to an amazing collection of films.