''New York, I Love You'' is a 2008 American romantic

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

anthology film consisting of eleven

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

s, each by a different director. The shorts all relate in some way to the subject of love and are set among the five

boroughs A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The film is a sequel of sorts to the 2006 film '' Paris, je t'aime'', which had the same structure, and is the second installment in the '' Cities of Love'' franchise, created and produced by Emmanuel Benbihy. The film stars an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to the po ...

, among them Bradley Cooper, Shia LaBeouf,

Natalie Portman Natalie Hershlag{{efn, Some Hebrew sources claim that her birth name was "Neta-Lee Hershleg" ({{langx, he, נטע-לי הרשלג) and later, her first name was Americanized to "Natalie". {{Cite news , last=Shamir , first=Oron , date=August ...

, Anton Yelchin, Hayden Christensen,

Orlando Bloom Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Copeland Bloom (born 13 January 1977) is an English actor. He made his breakthrough as the character Legolas in The Lord of the Rings (film series), ''The Lord of the Rings'' film series (2001–03). He reprised his r ...

, Irrfan Khan, Rachel Bilson, Chris Cooper, Andy García,

Christina Ricci Christina Ricci ( ; born February 12, 1980) is an American actress known for playing unusual characters with a dark edge. Ricci works mostly in Independent film, independent productions, but has also appeared in numerous box-office hits. She is ...

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 28 January 2017) was an English actor. Regarded as one of the finest actors of his time and known for the "most distinctive voice in Cinema of the United Kingdom, Britain", he was described by David Ly ...

, Cloris Leachman, Robin Wright, Julie Christie, Maggie Q,

Ethan Hawke Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor, author, and film director. He made his film debut in ''Explorers (film), Explorers'' (1985), before making a breakthrough performance in ''Dead Poets Society'' (1989). Hawke starr ...

, James Caan, Shu Qi, and

Eli Wallach Eli Herschel Wallach ( ; December 7, 1915 – June 24, 2014) was an American film, television, and stage actor from New York City. Known for his character actor roles, his entertainment career spanned over six decades. He received a British Aca ...

. ''New York, I Love You'' premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival in September 2008, and was released in the United States on October 16, 2009. The film grossed $9.7 million at the box office, and received mixed to unfavorable critical reviews.

Segments

Unlike ''Paris, je t'aime'', the shorts of ''New York, I Love You'' all have a unifying thread, of a videographer who films the other characters. While the TIFF premiere of the film featured 14 novellas, distributors later decided to cut two of them:

Scarlett Johansson Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress and singer. The List of highest-paid film actors, world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has been featured multiple times on the Forbes Celebrity 100, ''F ...

's directorial debut ''These Vagabond Shoes'' and Andrei Zvyagintsev's novella ''Apocrypha''. The decision was taken after a focused screening in New York, where these two shorts were met with unfavorable reactions.

Release

The film grossed $1,588,087 in the United States, and $8,136,973 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $9,725,060.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds a 37% approval rating based on 100 reviews, with an average rating of 5.10/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "Like many anthologies, ''New York, I Love You'' has problems of consistency, but it isn't without its moments". On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

it holds a score of 49 out of 100, based on reviews from 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Lisa Schwarzbaum of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' gave the film a B regarding the film "takes the wrinkle-free, easy-travel concept first executed in the 2007 Gallic compilation ''Paris, je t'aime'' to a new city and styles itself..."

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' gave the film 3 stars saying in his review, "By its nature, "New York, I Love You" can't add up. It remains the sum of its parts." A. O. Scott of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' gave the film a mixed review claiming "Not that the 11 shorts in ''New York, I Love You'' are all that bad. It's a nice-looking city, after all, even if the interstitial skyline and traffic montages assembled by Randy Balsmeyer are about as fresh as the postcards on sale in

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), ...

." Erica Abeel of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' writes: Heidi Patalano of ''

Metro New York ''Metro New York'' was a free daily newspaper in New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest n ...

'' gives the film a 4 grade out of 5. Claudia Puig of ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' explains that anthologies are by their very nature an uneven entity and adds:

In popular culture

An episode of the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series '' Master of None'' is named and structured after ''New York, I Love You''. Like the film, the episode follows the intersecting lives of various New Yorkers, although the stories are not exclusively about romance.

References

External links

* * * *
''Cities of Love'' franchise website
{{DEFAULTSORT:New York, I Love You 2008 films 2008 romantic comedy-drama films 2000s Cantonese-language films 2000s English-language films 2000s French-language films American anthology films American romantic comedy-drama films Films directed by Brett Ratner Films directed by Fatih Akin Films directed by the Hughes brothers Films directed by Jiang Wen Films directed by Joshua Marston Films directed by Mira Nair Films directed by Natalie Portman Films directed by Shekhar Kapur Films directed by Shunji Iwai Films directed by Yvan Attal Films scored by Atticus Ross Films scored by Marcelo Zarvos Films scored by Mark Mothersbaugh Films scored by Mychael Danna Films scored by Nicholas Britell Films scored by Paul Cantelon Films scored by Peter Nashel Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Films with screenplays by Jeff Nathanson Films with screenplays by Natalie Portman 2000s Gujarati-language films Mirabai Films films Yiddish-language films Films about proms 2000s American films English-language romantic comedy-drama films