Moofies - New York, I Love You (2009)

EXPECTATIONS: This is the second film in a series of "some place or other, I love you". Multiple filmmakers create short films that are set in a place, and then the films are intertwined a little, and we end up with a sort of homage to a place. The first film was about Paris, and like most collections of this sort it was a little choppy. I still enjoyed it a lot though, and I expect I will enjoy this one too.

REALITY: Other than some odd casting there were zero surprises here. This is pretty much more of the same. I think some film makers are unable to make what they do work within the time frame and the context of a film like this, while others can make this play to their strengths; I think Ratner's story of a kid going to prom with a girl in a wheelchair is the strongest of the film, while it was great to see Ethan Hawke as a writer whose chat up line is that he guarantees he can please a woman sexually. Natalie Portman writes and directs a story about a father and his kid, and stars in a kind of interesting but brief story by Mira Nair.

It's not a bad film, but the segments are a little too brief and there isn't really a unifying theme other than the place the stories are set in. Also, where is Woody Allen? I don't know what the story is there, but although he's kind of left New York and makes films in Europe now, I think it would have been nice to see him return for a segment in this film seeing as for most of his career he has been Mister New York.

Anyway, New York, I Love You is by no means amazing, but it's a good way to pass a dreary afternoon and I'm sure I'll watch every film in the series.

**1/2