Sidewalks of New York (2001)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Edward Burns

Writer (WGA):

Edward Burns (written by)

Release Date:

30 November 2001 (Lithuania)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

In a city of 8 million people, what are the odds the perfect two will meet?

Plot:

The interlocking lives and loves of six New Yorkers.

Plot Keywords:

Video Store | Divorce | Waitress | Doorman | Dentist

Cast

Penny Balfour	...	Young Hooker
Edward Burns	...	Tommy
Michael Leydon Campbell	...	Gio / Harry
Nadia Dajani	...	Hilary
Rosario Dawson	...	Maria
Kathleen Doyle	...	Katy
Dennis Farina	...	Carpo
Heather Graham	...	Annie
Leah Gray	...	Dental Hygienist
Timothy Jerome	...	Dr. Lance (as Tim Jerome)
David Krumholtz	...	Ben
Libby Langdon	...	Make-up Girl
Alicia Meer	...	Elevator Girl
Brittany Murphy	...	Ashley
Ted Neustadt	...	Doctor

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content and language.

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | Iceland:12 | Argentina:16 | France:U | Germany:12 | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R | Portugal:M/12 (video premiere)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Artists Production Group (APG)

Trivia:

The painting of the house in Tommy's (Ed Burns) home office is that of the house Ed Burns grew up in on Long Island, as featured in The Brothers McMullen (1995).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Ben is sitting in the bathroom strumming his guitar, the chords change but the fingers of his left hand clearly do not.

Quotes:

Carpo: I'm going to tell you something, I'm speaking from experience here. I am about the biggest dog there is. But it is not a good idea to fool around with married women. It's bad karma, kid.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Anatomy of a Scene: Sidewalks of New York" (2001)

Soundtrack:

Concerto in D Major

Smart, palatable social comedy of errors with flavorful New York backdrop.

Similar, yet different, from his other films ("The Brother's McMullen" and `She's the One'), writer/director/producer/actor Edward Burns, with his typical minuscule budget, broaches on Woody Allen territory this time as he explores the ooohs, aaahs and owwwws (mostly the owwwws) of the marriage and dating game. The sights and sounds of New York is in the air as the movie zeroes in on six disparate Manhattanites, all of whom trying their damnest to find the no-real answer to happiness. No belly-laughs here, but a lot of knowing smiles.

This brash, perceptive, ultimately winning cyclical comedy first introduces us to good-looking, nice-guy Tommy (Ed Burns) who has just split up with his girlfriend and has been thrown out of her apartment. Tommy takes a sudden interest in evasive school teacher Maria (Rosario Dawson), whom he meets in a video store. Maria is divorced from small, tough-talking schlmiel Ben (David Krumholtz), a doorman and rock musician wannabe who cheated on her. Ben, still pining for Maria, finds a welcome distraction in edgy student/waitress Ashley (Brittany Murphy), who is having an affair with a much older and married dentist, Griffin (Stanley Tucci), whose suspecting wife Annie (Heather Graham), a real estate agent, has her eye on one of her customers, Tommy (back to Ed Burns again), who is (remember?) looking for a new pad since his girlfriend kicked him out. So much for the Kevin Bacon six degrees of separations and divorces angle.

To punch up the thought processes of our six relationship-minded specimens, Burns has given his film a documentary/reality TV feel. Each of our protagonists express their own individual and personal philosophies on the meaning of love and sex with a `man on the street' interviewer. These telling bits are conveniently spliced here and there into each of their ongoing stories, which are not only a biting commentary on the social scene, but often humorously contradict their actions and intent.

Burns, a native New Yorker, gives us a passionate, authentic, down-to-earth vision of his 'hood. No picaresque postcard images are to be found here. No tourist-like views of Rockefeller Center, the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, etc. And just as dressed-down and down-to-earth is his solid ensemble cast. The stories are evenly laid out with no one performance getting short shrift. Burns, Dawson, Tucci, Murphy, Klumholtz, and Graham all have meaty roles here and each of their stories are well-presented and attention-grabbing. The philandering Tucci character, the least sympathetic of the bunch, still manages to drum up some pity, if not sympathy, for his subsequent actions. What's more, the outside circle, the peripheral friends/instigators/colleagues, etc., add immeasurably to the humor and atmosphere of the piece, particularly Aida Turturro as a worldly wise teacher/friend of Dawson's, Dennis Farina as Burns' overt male chauvinist boss, Michael Leydon Campbell in dual roles as a rocker and male half of a bickering married couple, and Callie Thorne as the bickering wife.

No one treats New York better than Woody Allen. With "Sidewalks of New York" Edward Burns pays tribute to this fair city, and he pays homage to Mr. Allen -- 1992's "Husbands and Wives" in particular. Notice Burns' analytical approach to his characters, the hand-held camera work and jump-cut style of editing (which is actually smoother and less jolting than in Allen's above-mentioned film), the pneumatic jazz score, the reflexive, conversational-like bantering between his characters, the episodic storylines, and, most importantly, the obvious devotion he has for NY. It all but spells out W-O-O-D-Y. But, in this case, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. He's learned well from the master.