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SIDEWALKS OF NEW YORK Send This Review to a Friend
After seeing "Sidewalks of New York" I can understand why psychiatrists might get bored listening to tales of woe from their patients. The characters in this film tell their problems to an interviewer--and to us--and although the film by Edward Burns has its moments, the people grow terribly tiresome as the camera cuts between what they have to say and incidents in their lives. Enough is enough.
The best parts concern Tommy, played pleasingly by Burns, and Annie, a real estate agent portrayed engagingly by Heather Graham. Will they be able to connect romantically? Annie is married to a sleazy, cheating husband, well played by Stanley Tucci. David Krumholtz gets to be an awful bore as the over-zealous Ben, who works as a doorman and is trying to get back with his ex-wife Maria (charming Rosario Dawson), who has no use for him, but Ben also is enchanted by Ashley (Brittany Murphy), a waitress who is excessively cute and getting fed up with her affair with Annie's husband. Dennis Farina is somewhat amusing as a high liver who makes womanizing a philosophy.
A little of this goes an awfully long way. The most arresting moments are when we see shots of the World Trade Towers in the background. The presence of the Towers as part of a film suddenly takes on an aura of nostalgia. Burns was wise to keep the shots in the film, and other filmmakers should resist any temptation to cut such background. A Paramount Classics release.
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