Delayed Reaction: A Rainy Day New York

Premise: A college couple spend a rainy day in the city on separate adventures.

 

I truly believe that if Woody Allen spent twice the time on each movie and had half the overall output then he'd have several of my favorite movies all time. I love his humor and ability to get great performances out of actors and especially actresses. I love the idea of so many of his movies. My complaint every time is that too often, I feel like I'm watching a first draft. I see the great idea of a Purple Rose of Cairo or a Midnight in Paris, but he doesn't find the way to turn it from ok to great. It's the most frustrating thing about him as a filmmaker.

 

A Rainy Day New York isn't a great movie. I think Timothee Chalamet is an absolutely horrendous Allen protagonist. It's no secret that most Allen leads are stand ins for Allen himself. He has Chalamet saying things that couldn't sound less natural coming out of his mouth. Chalamet even has an Allen affect to how he talks. He simply can't play neurotic. At least, not Allen's brand of neurotic. That almost single-handedly tanks the movie. Elle Fanning as the other part of the couple is much better. In a world where Allen's past actions and allegations weren't getting him canceled, I'd be curious to see several years of Fanning as his latest muse. She has the comedy chops, varied resume, and easy charm of his best lead actresses. Yet, this is a Woody Allen movie with a 19-year-old actress in it, so naturally, it is filled with men twice her age falling in love with her. Remind me again how any of us were surprised about Soon-Yi.

 

I really do see the outline of a movie I could fall in love with though. Few filmmakers shoot New York City as well as Woody Allen. I really like the idea of the dual narratives with Chalamet and Fanning. I enjoy movies that are a collection of small adventures like this. It's fun to meander with the characters and see what familiar actor will show up next for 5 minutes at a time.

 

I wanted to hate this movie a lot more than I did. I'm ready for Woody Allen to pack it up. He's in his 80s. His heart doesn't seem to be in his movies anymore. His public comeuppance is long overdue. This looks like it's going to be the last great Woody Allen cast in a movie. I feel like every person in this movie went on to donate their salary to a sexual abuse charity, so I was curious what the film itself would be. It has too many problems for me to like it, but I repeatedly ran into moments that I wished were in a better movie.

 

Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend