Autumn in New York (2000) 1 star out of 4. Starring Richard Gere, Winona Ryder, Anthony LaPaglia, Elaine Stritch, Vera Farmiga, Sherry Stringfield, Jill Hennessy and J.K. Simmons. Written by Allison Burnett. Directed by Joan Chen. Rated PG-13.
I must confess that underneath this gruff, cynical movie critic's exterior beats the heart of a sentimental romantic.
I enjoy love stories - good ones, that is. One of my favorites is a forgotten little gem called "The Barretts of Wimpole Street," which tells of the love affair of Victorian-era poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett. And, of course, there's "Casablanca," the greatest love story of all. When Rick sends Ilsa away at the end, telling her, `We'll always have Paris,' I get a bit choked up.
In my mind, the saddest love story is "King Kong." Boy finds girl, boy loses girl, boy finds girl again in New York, boy gets riddled with machine gun bullets and falls from the top of the Empire State Building. It brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it.
Bringing tears to my eyes, but for a different reason, was the new Richard Gere-Winona Ryder weeper, "Autumn in New York." This May-December romance is so artificial, so contrived that no matter how hard you try liking it, you can't bring yourself to embrace it fully.
He is Will Keane, 48, a famed chef and restaurant owner and a notorious womanizer. He's one of those love ‘em and leave ‘em guys. He is portrayed by Gere, who remains one of the handsomest men on the planet. In fact, age has added a bit of character and depth to Gere's features.
But the way in which some of the other supporting players talk about Gere's Keane and his remarkable good looks for a guy his age, you'd think he had a portrait of himself hidden somewhere in his apartment doing the aging for him. (For those who don't know what the heck I'm talking about, I suggest you read Oscar Wilde's "Picture of Dorian Gray," or at least rent the movie.)
She is Charlotte Fielding, a 22-year-old free spirit in the bloom of young adulthood. She also has a terrible secret. Well, it's not really a secret. She has a rare, congenital heart condition, and Charlotte knows she has very little time left. And if anyone thinks, I'm spoiling the movie, forget it. The film's trailer spills the beans, so don't go blaming me.
Anyway, our Charlotte figures, what the heck, why not spend what time she has left rolling around in bed with a guy twice her age.
Call me old fashioned, but if I knew my time was limited, I think I'd find other worthwhile things to do - visit ballparks I haven't seen, fly to countries I've always wanted to visit. Beg Sophia Loren to allow me to take her to dinner. That sort of thing.
Surprising, Ryder is very good as Charlotte. Her character is pragmatic and confident, and in some instances much more mature than her much-older lover. Because Charlotte seems so self-assured, so together, it is difficult to grasp her attraction to the shallow Will.
"Autumn in New York" contains some of the most lame dialogue I've heard in years. You don't even hear lines like these on daytime soaps.
Most of these clunkers are mouthed by Gere: `Man, you don't dance, you float' and `You're a kid and I'm a creep,' are two examples.
And those are some of the better lines. Gere and Ryder, under the direction of former actress Joan Chen, spend a lot of time staring into each other's eyes, crying, arguing then making up.
After a while, it is all very tiresome.
"Autumn in New York" is a pretty movie, with an appropriately sweet score by Gabriel Yared.
It is difficult to understand what attracted Chen, who made a very impressive directorial debut with the acclaimed "Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl," to this project. I hope it was only to get her foot in the door of the Directors Guild of America, and that now she will go on to better and more worthwhile projects as befits her talent.
For that is all "Autumn in New York" is good for - being a stepping stone.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier. in Lafayette, IN He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net Reviews by Bloom can be found on the Internet Movie Database at: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
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