Autumn in New York
Sometimes I just feel like seeing "a weepie chick flick". Autumn in New York
with Richard Gere and Winona Ryder wasn't it. It was supposed to be a romantic movie,
but I never quite bought it.
Jack (Gere) is a playboy restauranteur who starts the movie by breaking up with a
girlfriend. Later that night he meets Charlotte (Ryder). She makes hats, and he
calls her a few days later to ask her to make a hat for his date. When she delivers
the hat he tells her that his date cancelled and Charlotte is roped in to replace her. However,
she doesn't wear the hat.
Charlotte tells Jack that she is dying and she has at most a year to live. Yes, she
has the movie star disease. The sicker she gets, the more attractive she becomes.
Jack responds by sleeping with his old girlfriend and then breaking up with Charlotte.
Of course,they get back together until she dies, not very tragically, in hospital.
There's a lot in this movie that just didn't convince me. I never believed that Charlotte
or Jack were really in love with each other. There's a subplot about Jack's long
lost daughter who contacts him, but I didn't really believe that she was his daughter. She looked too close to his age. There's another subplot about Charlotte's mother
having been in love with Jack, although the movie is careful to explain that that
relationship was never consummated.
In a movie like this, it is important that the two lovers seem to be in love. I could
never really understand just what in the heck the attraction was between these two.
So, a love story without believability just doesn't do it for me.
The supporting characters are fine. It was wonderful to see Elaine Stritch again
as Charlotte's grandmother, and Anthony LaPaglia as Gere's employee added a nice
touch of normality. Near the end a really interesting doctor character was added...I
almost wish the movie had been about him. He was much more interesting than the two leads.
The only thing I was left weeping about was the fact that I paid ¥1000 to see this
movie.
If this movie piques your interest at all, I suggest you wait until it is on video
and you can rent it cheaply! I do not recommend it.
On the Stella Starstruck Scale, I give it * out of five. That's only because I liked
the supporting actors. Miss it if you have anything more interesting to do!
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