FilmSnobReviews

Title: A Rainy Day in New York
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Woody Allen
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Elle Fanning, Liev Schreiber
Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins

What It Is: Gatsby Welles (Chalamet) is a unique young man who is never content with where he is and what he has. For example, he has a loving girlfriend in the form of one Ms. Ashleigh Enright (Fanning). Ashleigh is an ambitious reporter for their college paper. When she’s tasked with speaking to enigmatic director Roland Pollard (Schreiber) things go left, right and center and this once idyllic visit to one of the world’s biggest cities turns into a catastrophe.

What We Think: So problematic is Allen that a proper U.S. release didn’t really happen. Allen further fueled those fires by stating he “didn’t care if it were released in the United States”. That being said this film suggests that Allen has heard what people have said about him. We avoid the typical Allen nonsense by and large but reap the rewards of his experience when it comes to the writing and camerawork. This is a well-told story and it is a pretty funny one too. I especially liked that the story was well told. Even if the dialogue comes off as in no way real. People don’t speak in the manner that the characters here do.

Our Grade: B-, It’s not awful when you look at it from a strict filmmaking point of view. If you want to get into all the other stuff you’re going to have a bad time. Artists make art and Allen has been making it for 50 years now. You can tell by looking at this film that he knows exactly what he’s doing. That simple ability to just know, one that comes from experience, cannot be taught in any way other than just that. Experience.