I don't know if 2019 high-school graduates have an avid interest in Cole Porter, Akira Kurosawa and are such indelible romantics. In the world of Woody Allen that has often been set in the iconic city of New York, this has been the case but not with such obvious romanticism from such a younger mindset. Woody Allen's "A Rainy Day in New York" is a romantic souffle with not enough ingredients to keep us happily giddy. It never feels authentic enough to the Woodster's own brand of neurosis or pseudo-intellectual conversations - the trick in the past was that such conversations on topics of existentialism and Marshall McLuhan ("Annie Hall" devotees out there?) sounded pseudo-intellectual or at least to another character. When these characters speak of rainy days in carriages and Cole Porter, it feels like carbon-copy Woody Allen.
That is not say that "A Rainy Day in New York" is a total washout - it is lively and whimsical enough to sustain one's interest. Right from the start, I was convinced I heard Woody Allen's voice narrating the film when in fact it is Timothée Chalamet as Gatsby (who names anyone Gatsby nowadays?), a college kid with a high IQ and the luck of the draw when gambling. He is eager to take his girlfriend, Ashleigh (Elle Fanning, playing one of the ditziest girls I've ever seen in a Woody Allen flick), an overzealous journalism major who is about to interview a major Hollywood director she loves; he makes movies with titles like "Winter Memories" and hates them when he first screens them (sound about right). The lovely couple travel to New York and encounter a few mishaps here and there. One involves Gatsby running into his ex-girlfriend's sister (Selena Gomez), who makes it clear that Gatsby used to be rated less than a 7 by his ex (some of that gets a little tired). Gatsby runs into all sorts of friends from his past though one in particular was hilarious, a deeply obnoxious pre-med student (Ben Warheit) who seems to hate everything and has no kind words about anyone as he laughs merrily (I know he's obnoxious but I would have loved to have seen more of him). When Gatsby runs into his parents (the authoritative Cherry Jones plays his mother) and there is some forced nonsense about an escort (an Allenism from the past), I was more lost in this New York than entranced.
Elle Fanning, an actress deserving a lot more than this cursory role, is adrift in this movie - she has innocence but it seems forced, and her Ashleigh is never more than just hastily defined as someone with no real fundamental thoughts of her own (her hiccups did induce a few laughs). Gatsby loves her, to be sure, but he dismisses her a little too prematurely just because she doesn't know the difference between a Cole Porter lyric and a Shakespeare quote. Again, is this how easily dismissive young people are nowadays? Bury that thought.
"A Rainy Day in New York" is not as enlightening or as sweet-tempered as many of Woody Allen;'s earlier films on relationships - "Annie Hall" or anything he did with Diane Keaton or Mia Farrow need not be exclusively mentioned, it is hardly as rhapsodic as "Sweet and Lowdown." I guess I am just tired of an arrogant, aloof Woody Allen-type and I'd like the Woodster to branch out as he did with "Midnight in Paris" or the sublime "Blue Jasmine." Bring back some level of original eccentricity beyond faux N.Y.C neurosis.
