A Rainy Day in New York (2019)

Yes, we know: Woody Allen has been canceled (see below*). But we can still appreciate the art despite how we feel about the artist. And we enjoyed this rom-com in which Timothée Chalamet plays the Woody role of an eccentric, pessimistic, yet romantic New Yorker with bad posture, Elle Fanning a naive, cornfed blonde, and Selena Gomez a beautiful, snarky sidekick. The star-studded cast boasts Liev Schreiber, Annaleigh Ashford, Jude Law (with a terrific New York accent), Cherry Jones, Diego Luna, and more.

Perhaps liking a Woody Allen directed and written movie is one of my guilty pleasures. They're sort of old-shoe comfortable, going back to my youth. I expect snappy dialogue, beautiful photography, classic jazz tunes whose titles reflect the scenes into which they are placed, and gorgeous sets and wardrobe representing the upper crust of Manhattan, and I get them nearly every time. Speaking of upper crust, Chalamet's character's name is Gatsby, for goodness' sake.

As noted, there are many delightful tunes to hear during the movie. Here's a list of the songs. Though not credited, Chalamet sings Everything Happens to Me, with Conal Fowkes sitting in on the piano. No original score, as usual. Vittorio Storaro is behind the camera and Santo Loquasto heads the production design team.

Allen and Storaro were last blogged for Wonder Wheel, Chalamet for Dune, Fanning for Teen Spirit (in between we loved her in 30 episodes of The Great), Gomez for Spring Breakers (she's worked a lot since then, notably in 30 episodes of Only Murders in the Building), Schreiber for Isle of Dogs, Ashford for Bad Education, Law for The Grand Budapest Hotel, Jones for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Luna for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Loquasto for Allen's Café Society.

*In 2017 in my post on Wonder Wheel I wrote a long paragraph about Allen's literal trials and tribulations. This movie began shooting that year but Amazon, which was financing it, halted the production because of the accusations against him. He sued, settled, and completed the movie, and it was distributed in other countries to much success. It was released here in late 2020.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics, at 47% and its audiences at 56, have dampened enthusiasm. Sure, it's not his best work. But we're not sorry we saw it with our subscription to Amazon Prime (also available with a subscription to Peacock) in late October.