Seitensprünge in New York (2001)

Seitensprünge in New York: Directed by Edward Burns. With Penny Balfour, Edward Burns, Michael Leydon Campbell, Nadia Dajani. The interlocking lives and loves of six New Yorkers.

“u0026quot;Sidewalks of New Yorku0026quot; feels like a retread of Ed Burnsu0026#39; earlier works. Once again we have a bunch of intermingling couples who do nothing but talk talk talk and obsess about relationships and their personal insecurities with them. When I first saw u0026quot;The Brothers McMullen,u0026quot; I was surprised at how drawn into the story I was. But this story (as was also the case with u0026quot;Sheu0026#39;s the Oneu0026quot;) seems way too similar to u0026quot;McMullen.u0026quot; Things that were forgivable in that film are growing tired and distractive: Everyone meets in a classical u0026quot;cuteu0026quot; way from the golden era of cinema. Everyone coincidentally runs into each other at the most convenient moment. Most of the characters are forgettable, and their relationships are not very believable. The film isnu0026#39;t very funny, and most of the running jokes fail. The film also doesnu0026#39;t live up to its title in that New York is shot in a most un-passionate, unflattering way–this better not appear on any list about the best films depicting New York. Burns puts alot of trust into improvisation, apparently telling his actors to just u0026quot;roll with it.u0026quot; But he seems to feel that realism and improvisation can substitute for substance, and this is not true–many actors rant on and blurt out lines that donu0026#39;t feel genuine, almost forced by improvisation, when Burns should have just shouted u0026quot;cutu0026quot; and done a retake. The phony u0026quot;interviewu0026quot; moments when the fictional characters speak to the camera, react to something offscreen, or ask if they should u0026quot;start overu0026quot; come off equally unnatural. Performances are bland for the most part, save Dennis Farina. Heather Graham comes off particularly bad, at one point I even thought I caught her fighting a smile, ready to bust out laughing during a u0026quot;seriousu0026quot; scene.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOnce again, we have a self-hating, self obsessed older male jerk who has an affair behind his insecure wifeu0026#39;s back, we have a young idealistic kid who romances a girl with immediate promises of love and marriage, and again we have Ed Burns meeting someone by fighting over a material object–in u0026quot;McMullenu0026quot; it was an apartment, in u0026quot;Sidewalks,u0026quot; it is a copy of u0026quot;Breakfast at Tiffanyu0026#39;s.u0026quot; u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s not that I hate this movie, its just that I see a lack of passion in it. It is almost as if Ed Burns doesnu0026#39;t trust his ability to move on, and that leaves us with total mediocrity. Grade: C-“