DVD Review: Sidewalks of New York (C-)

Sidewalks of New York (2001)
Directed by Edward Burns
Starring Edward Burns, Heather Graham, Rosario Dawson, Brittany Murphy and Stanley Tucci
MPAA: R
Grade: C-

Review by Scott Standish

Edward Burns ventures deep into Woody Allen's territory with a romantic comedy set, as the title says, on the Sidewalks of New York. The plot is a complex, intertwining web around six New Yorkers searching to find the perfect mate. Its a comedy-drama and it is shot in a pseudo documentary style complete with sidebar discussions with the characters in the film.

Everyone in Sidewalks of New York is either cheating on their partner, thinking about cheating on their partner, or lamenting the fact that everyone has cheated on them. So, these characters aren't the most likable. For example, Griffin (played by Stanley Tucci) cheats on his devoted wife Annie (played by Heather Graham) with the young girl Ashley. In a moment where Griffin talks to the camera, he rationalizes this by saying that "this kind of behavior is common in Europe", so its acceptable.

In time, Ashley gets fed up with Griffin's overall sleaziness and dumps him for the younger, more energetic Gio (played by Michael Leydon Campbell). But we've also learned that Gio cheated on his former wife Maria (Rosario Dawson) and was a real jerk about the affair to boot. So, as you can see, everyone is obsessed with cheating on their mates in Sidewalks of New York. To make matters worse, they still tell themselves, and their lovers, that they are actually in search of the one true love, and would be monogamous if only they could find the right person.

The most honest of all the characters is also the sleaziest: cocky newscaster Carpo, played by Dennis Farina. Farina refuses to even enter into traditional relationships, instead boldly living his life in search of sexual conquest after sexual conquest. He believes in this way of life, and he lets everyone know it right from the start. He is all about himself and his needs. Carpo just wants to have fun regardless of how it affects other, but at least he is honest with everyone about it.

The Tommy character (Ed Burns) is one of the few actors in the film that doesn't cheat on everyone, and its clear that Burns wants the audience to sympathize with this guy. Tommy has been hurt in the past, so he enters cautiously into relationship after relationship. This trepidation causes women to double guess themselves whenever considering Tommy for a long term relationship. Even this lone "nice guy" has a certain smugness about himself so once again,its hard to really feel bad for him when things go awry.

I don't think that you have to like the characters in a movie to enjoy it. In fact I like movies where everyone is acting despicable, as long as its obvious tha its where the director wants to take you. However, Sidewalks of New York simply has too many sleazy characters to really work as the light romantic comedy that it aspires to be.

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