New York City Serenade
3/4
Starring: Freddie Prinze Jr., Chris Kline, Jamie-Lynn Sigler
Rated R for Language, Brief Sexuality and Drug Use
"New York City Serenade" is one of those movies that uses naturalistic dialogue and intentionally normal and non-dramatic elements to tell its story. Often, these can be good movies, like "Win Win" or "Tumbleweeds." This is a tricky thing to pull off, and when a filmmaker doesn't get the right mix, the film can come off as unbearably boring and pretentious. For the first half of the movie, character actor Frank Whaley's third directorial project seems to be heading down that route. The dialogue is bland and the characters aren't likable or interesting. But the film takes off during the second half.
Owen (Prinze Jr.) is an aspiring filmmaker working at a dead end job. He's engaged to a college student named Lynn (Sigler), although he is not faithful to her. His best friend Ray (Klein) is an alcoholic drummer in a state of arrested development. When Lynn finds out that Owen slept with another girl, she dumps him. That leaves an opening for Ray to go on a trip to a film festival where Owen has a short film that is playing. But Owen's desperate attempts to get Lynn to forgive him and Ray's irresponsible behavior are causing a lot of friction between them.
The two leads, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Chris Kline, have been known mainly for making teen movies (where physical appeal trumps acting ability...Taylor Lautner, anyone?). While neither one of them has impressed me with their thespian skills in the past, they're both quite good here. Each of them has a stiff moment or two, but for 99.99% of the film, they completely inhabit their characters. It doesn't take long to stop seeing Ray from "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and Oz from the "American Pie" movies. Jamie-Lynn Sigler is good, but her character is more of a plot device rather than a legitimate character, and as a result isn't particularly interesting.
Frank Whaley is best known for playing squirrelly characters in movies such as "Broken Arrow," "Swimming with Sharks" and "Pulp Fiction." Here, he proves that he knows what he's doing behind a camera. He has, with his two leads, created two interesting and three-dimensional characters (I'm sure a career as an actor helped him a lot), and has told an engaging story. While it's billed as comedy-drama, Whaley's emphasis is on the latter. There are some amusing moments here and there, but it's not going to have anyone rolling in the aisles. What Whaley needs is a better editor. The first half drags on for what seems like forever. There were times where I nearly gave up on the film. But all in all I think that the strong second half makes up for its shortcomings, especially if this type of indie flick appeals to you.
Starring: Freddie Prinze Jr., Chris Kline, Jamie-Lynn Sigler
Rated R for Language, Brief Sexuality and Drug Use
"New York City Serenade" is one of those movies that uses naturalistic dialogue and intentionally normal and non-dramatic elements to tell its story. Often, these can be good movies, like "Win Win" or "Tumbleweeds." This is a tricky thing to pull off, and when a filmmaker doesn't get the right mix, the film can come off as unbearably boring and pretentious. For the first half of the movie, character actor Frank Whaley's third directorial project seems to be heading down that route. The dialogue is bland and the characters aren't likable or interesting. But the film takes off during the second half.
Owen (Prinze Jr.) is an aspiring filmmaker working at a dead end job. He's engaged to a college student named Lynn (Sigler), although he is not faithful to her. His best friend Ray (Klein) is an alcoholic drummer in a state of arrested development. When Lynn finds out that Owen slept with another girl, she dumps him. That leaves an opening for Ray to go on a trip to a film festival where Owen has a short film that is playing. But Owen's desperate attempts to get Lynn to forgive him and Ray's irresponsible behavior are causing a lot of friction between them.
The two leads, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Chris Kline, have been known mainly for making teen movies (where physical appeal trumps acting ability...Taylor Lautner, anyone?). While neither one of them has impressed me with their thespian skills in the past, they're both quite good here. Each of them has a stiff moment or two, but for 99.99% of the film, they completely inhabit their characters. It doesn't take long to stop seeing Ray from "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and Oz from the "American Pie" movies. Jamie-Lynn Sigler is good, but her character is more of a plot device rather than a legitimate character, and as a result isn't particularly interesting.
Frank Whaley is best known for playing squirrelly characters in movies such as "Broken Arrow," "Swimming with Sharks" and "Pulp Fiction." Here, he proves that he knows what he's doing behind a camera. He has, with his two leads, created two interesting and three-dimensional characters (I'm sure a career as an actor helped him a lot), and has told an engaging story. While it's billed as comedy-drama, Whaley's emphasis is on the latter. There are some amusing moments here and there, but it's not going to have anyone rolling in the aisles. What Whaley needs is a better editor. The first half drags on for what seems like forever. There were times where I nearly gave up on the film. But all in all I think that the strong second half makes up for its shortcomings, especially if this type of indie flick appeals to you.
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