Review: "A Rainy Day in New York"
Wednesday, October 7, 2020 at 8:55AM 
It’s easy to forget just how formidable Woody Allen’s Oscar history is. Not only is he the most-nominated screenwriter, with sixteen bids, he’s also tied for fourth place in the directing category with seven. He won three prizes for Best Original Screenplay, for the three films that earned Best Picture nominations: Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Midnight in Paris. Annie Hall of course won the top prize for 1977.
Allen has made nearly fifty films, and by my count, I’ve seen a third of those. A good portion of them are from the last two decades, which is hardly considered his golden period. Of his contemporary pictures, I was most wowed by Match Point, which was a dramatic departure from his typical tone as well as a geographical departure from his beloved New York City. But his most recent, Wonder Wheel, was a dud as the closing night selection for the New York Film Festival back in 2017. Interestingly, Allen has two films premiering this month...
One of them, Rifkin’s Festival, is only being released in Spain and Italy, so I don’t know if we’ll ever get to see it in the United States. The other, A Rainy Day in New York, will be quietly opening this Friday in select (open) American theaters since many people consider Allen to be persona non grata.
In the latter, Gatsby (Timothée Chalamet) is a pretentious college student who jumps at the opportunity to accompany his girlfriend Ashleigh (Elle Fanning) on a trip into New York City so that she can interview a notorious director (Liev Schreiber). When they arrive, his plans to provide a whirlwind tour of all the classics are quickly derailed as new “scoops” present themselves to Ashleigh, including a ride-along with a movie writer (Jude Law) and a run-in with a famous actor (Diego Luna). Gatsby is left to his own devices, reencountering relics of his past as he tries to keep himself busy, including his mother (Cherry Jones) and Chan (Selena Gomez), the younger sister of an ex-girlfriend.
Allen last appeared as an actor in Crisis in Six Scenes, his peculiar six-episode miniseries for Amazon Prime in 2016 that costarred Miley Cyrus. He’s found a formidable surrogate for his mannerisms in Chalamet, who is probably more charming than Allen ever was on screen but expresses the same self-involved overconfidence that makes him difficult to tolerate. Fanning, a stellar lead in last season’s best TV show, The Great, plays Ashleigh as a typical Allen female, brilliant and well-spoken but equally naïve about the intentions of others. Allen’s peculiar selection of another pop star for his latest project proves to be fine, as Gomez handles the material she’s given sufficiently. It’s worth noting that all three performers are considerably younger than Allen was when he first began starring in his earliest films, though each feels like a faithful fit to their part.
Updating his ensemble with hot, up-and-coming actors absolutely makes sense, and it’s something that Allen has been doing for the past twenty years as he has gradually handed over the leading parts to others. But what he hasn’t done is to modernize the way his characters speak and experience the world around them. The idea that even the most precocious of teenagers would use words and expressions like those Gatsby, Ashleigh, and Chan do is far-fetched, and it’s as they’ve stepped right out of the 1970s and emerged in the present day. Gatsby’s concerned reaction when Ashleigh mentions the wrong hotel as their rendezvous point is overdramatic given that they both have working cell phones, and Ashleigh’s magical adventures during her day in New York may feel like a dream, but we know they’re real when TV news airs paparazzi footage that Gatsby can watch live in his lavish hotel room.
This film is like a living anachronism, with its millennial/Gen Z protagonists visiting a historical remnant where film crews close down New York City streets and are able to shoot scenes without interruption, and where people behave as if technological innovations haven’t changed the way they see or interact with the world. It’s an idyllic and welcome trip, one that captures the beauty of New York in a way that it doesn’t always transmit anymore in cinema. There’s nothing particularly fresh or earth-shattering that’s explored here, but for a filmmaker who’s written countless love-hate letters to New York City, it’s a surprisingly engaging and entertaining experience.
Reader Comments (13)
I feel bad for Selena Gomez - this could have jump started a turning point in her acting career had the release of this film not align with Allen’s downfall. She’s just as formidable as, say, Zendaya.
I enjoyed the film, as I do most Allen's films. Even the lesser ones like 'Wonder Wheel' are worth seeing and since they're rarely over two hours, I happily give them a shot.
A great filmmaker.
Also one of my favorite filmmakers. Will have to check this out. Hannah & Her Sisters and Crimes & Misdemeanors are all-time classics for me.
In terms of Oscar records, I wonder where he stands with getting actors nominated and winning.
I found the film a lot of fun. It's not a realistic portrayal of young people (or Manhattan) today, but ask someone in Stockholm how realistic Bergman's films were regarding 60s and 70s Sweden. It really doesn't matter. Allen isn't making documentaries. Cherry Jones kind of steals the show and Gomez has a great scene. Fanning, to me, plays a cliched "dumb blonde" and is probably the reason so many hostile critics are calling the film misogynist (I know, to me he's one of the least misogynist critics out there. When someone writes "the film in misogynist," I just read "I believe Dylan and Mia Farrow"). But she's also charming and likable and Allen's offered "dumb blondes" of both genders and various hair colors before. Some people are shallow. Let's face it. And again, Fanning is likeably shallow in this role. The MVP, I think, is Vittorio Storaro, Storaro and all those rain machines.
I agree with Woody's outdatedness. I always laugh in Blue Jasmine when Jasmine takes a class on how to use a computer and they show her in class concentrating like she's learning how to perform brain surgery. LOL.
I saw somewhere that with DUNE and FRENCH DISPATCH moving out of 2020, this year was the first year since 2013 without a new Chalamet film. So would THIS count?
Misogynistic Woody Allen? Seriously? What about Scorsese, Coppola, Spielberg, Lucas?
I don't care if it's mediocre/middle-of-the-road Allen, I still want to see it.
I would suggest you put this in your Original Screenplay predictions list. In a year as this even a minor Woody Allen is a threat.
@Prajhan, A.O. Scott, who has serious Allen issues (he came right out in a column a few years ago, without prompting, and said he believed Allen molested his daughter even though there isn't a shred of evidence, well, beyond Dylan's accusations) wrote this, yesterday, about the new movie: "Are you willing to take chances with your physical health for the opportunity to sample [Allen's] latest cocktail of Great American Songbook excerpts, luxurious interiors, dated cultural allusions and casual misogyny?" So, yeah. I'm guessing he's friends with Mia Farrow.
@StephenM, Allen can be pretty anachronistic, but I don't think Jasmine's lack of computer skills reflects that. I've known totally out of touch, privileged people who couldn't do stuff 98% do all the time: use a computer, pump gas, buy stuff at the store. Her character is a fallen wealthy woman who was waited on hand and foot by house cleaners and personal assistants over the last 25 years and is now out on her own. I knew a guy sort of like that only ten years ago who had no idea how to answer his own emails. His admin assistant had done that for him forever. Finally, about 2010 he figured he needed to figure it out. The process wasn't pretty.
In terms of anachronisms, IRRATIONAL MAN is a better fit. Set on a 2010s college campus nobody seemed to have smartphones or laptops. The film still works.
What about his current wife, people? A girl for whom he was a father figure? Do you think he really didn’t touch her until she was 18? I have a bridge to sell you. And why did they adopt girls? All you have to do to know that he is capable of anything is watch and comprehend Crimes and Misdemeanors, one of the greatest films ever. A most amoral filmmaker/person out there does not exist. You want to go on admiring his work even when it has become mediocre at best? (As i hear. I have watch a few, the better ones.) You’re entitled to it. But don’t turn your face away from the excrement. Mostly great filmmaker. Horrible, abominable human being.
So excited to finally see this!
Very looking forward to seeing this!