A Rainy Day in New York [Blu-ray]

Possible spoilers. Evidently this film from director/writer Woody Allen was finished in 2017 but didn’t get distribution until the summer of 2019 and then only in Europe. Legal entanglement between Amazon who was to be the distributor and then Allen’s own personal life took a turn with legal charges against him by his ex-wife and daughter. Allen reacquired the rights to the film and it finally had a limited, very limited, release in the U.S. But it’s out now streaming, ironically on Amazon Prime. Is it a great Woody Allen movie? No but it isn’t a bad one either. The cast is superb, maybe his last great cast.Timothee Chalamet plays a character named Gatsby Welles whose New York City parents are quite wealthy. He goes to fictitious Yardley College (Drew University in New Jersey is a stand in) where he mostly plays poker. That and advancing his relationship with girlfriend Ashleigh Enright (Elle Fanning) who is from Tucson, Arizona where she was a local beauty queen and daughter of a banker. She is at Yardley to study journalism. She gets an opportunity to interview famous director Roland Pollard (Liev Schreiber) in NYC and her college paper gives her the assignment.Gatsby thinks it would be a great opportunity to spend a romantic weekend in the city. She agrees, as her interview is to be only 1 hour. Gatsby is a younger version of Woody Allen that he played in movies early in his career. Allen’s dialog rolls smoothly off Gatsby’s lips with that hint of sarcasm, wit and honesty. He’s a romantic at heart and plans nights of driving around the city in a carriage. In the rain would be perfect and it’s in the forecast. His perfect evening would end at his favorite piano bar. He loves piano bars.Ashleigh on the other hand is a stand in for Mariel Hemmingway’s Tracy from Allen’s 1979 film, “Manhattan.” She’s pretty of course, but hyper energetic and full of sass. When Pollard suggests she accompany him to see a preliminary cut of his latest film, she can’t resist. She tells Gatsby it would only be a couple hours and then they can get together.Meanwhile Gatsby runs into Chan Tyell (Selena Gomez) who is the younger sister of a girl he dated. She’s shooting a commercial and they need a guy to just sit in a convertible and get kissed. Awkward and a lot of fun. Back to Ashleigh. Pollard hates his film and runs out. Ted Davidoff (Jude Law), the screenwriter has to find him before he drinks himself into oblivion. Naturally he wants Ashleigh to come along. They end up at a party. She will also run into a well-known actor, hunky Francisco Vega (Diego Luna) who loosens Ashleigh up with booze and pot. As Ashleigh will tell Gatsby, “He just wanted to get in my pants.”Meanwhile, Gatsby is in Manhattan unbeknownst to his parents. They are hosting a big charity party in their lavish apartment. Gatsby wants no part of it. He’s not a fan of the family’s friends. He’s spotted by his aunt at an art gallery he’s attending with Chan – remember her. The lad does have time to kill. So now he has to make an appearance at his family’s party.There are a couple great scenes in the film. One is with Gatsby and his mother played by the great Cherry Jones. She will get new respect from her son after she tells him about her hidden background. The other is the finale which seems just about perfect. The cast also includes Will Rogers and Annaleigh Ashford as Gatsby’s brother and future sister-in-law, Rebecca Hall as Ted’s wife, Suki Waterhouse as Vega’s girlfriend and many others. NYC looks beautiful, even or especially in the rain. The boutique hotels and $10 million apartments are to die for. The film falters at times as it relies on unlikely coincident to move the story along. Ultimately this is an unmistakable Woody Allen movie. Like him or not, it’s pretty darn good.

The actors are perfect on their roles and its another good comedy by Woody. It disappoints me however that some of the actors acted as though they needed to distance themselves from the whats been ongoing accusations made by his former partner. When all they needed to say was nothing. Which is exactly what they are without the talents of the likes of woody allen; thus reinforcing the stereotype of the airhead actor.

The story had many layers and most definitely fed innto the artsy community in New York. It had many themes and one I enjoyed the most throughout the movie was the coming of age storyline for Gatsby. In one weekend he realized more about himself than he has in the past few years. He was an understanding passionate chrarcter who finally figured out the kind of person he is and the kind of person he wants in his life. His commentary of his thoughts throughout the film gave an insight into the awareness that Gatsby has of himself and the world around him. Overall it was a great movie and each characer was portrayed so well. I DEFINITELY reccomend!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. If you're a Woody Allen fan I believe that you will too. It has all the elements of classic Allen films; it's set in Manhattan, it features neurotic, complex characters, it has witty and genuinely funny dialogue, it is beautifully filmed, and it creates the urban fantasy milieu that Allen has made famous for decades. All the lead performers are completely charming; Chalamet, Elle Fanning, Selina Gomez, Diego Luna, et all, all have their enjoyable moments. There was one subplot, the infidelity of the writer's wife, that didn't seem vital. But even here, Rebecca Hall as the wife makes a good impression in a very brief scene that makes it entertaining nonetheless. The movie as a whole is a delight, much like most of Allen's work. I don't consider it to be on the level of a classic like his earlier work, but what artist can sustain their peak indefinitely? I see this point of Allen's career as analogous to writer Phillip Roth's late period novels. His later works were not Sabbath's Theater, or Portnoy's Complaint, or certainly not American Pastoral. But Roth's later works are nonetheless insightful, moving, and entertaining. This is how I see Allen's work now. There's always something of interest of the masters in any type of art, and so it is with Allen's latest movies. I only hope that they will be available for those of us who want to watch them.Which brings me to that which has to be breached now when discussing anything to do with Woody Allen, and that is the concerted shaming, and ongoing effort to delete Allen's legacy from the history of movies, due to an allegation of extremely dubious merit. Once you do research and learn more context , it quickly becomes apparent that this is character assassination by accusation. What has happened to Allen is a crime for which there are no charges, but victimizes all the same. While I'm all onboard with #metoo, what has happened to Allen is an object lesson of the hazards of fanaticism, the inability to view allegations objectively and put them into context. If you've not already, I highly recommend that you read the writings of Robert Weide and Justin Levine, on the Dylan Farrow accusation against Allen. Both of them have written exhaustively about the case, and have exposed all of the inconsistencies, fabrications, exaggerations, and and outright lies about the case, which has continued propagate to due to some very lazy reporting, and a zeal for moral certitude. I believe that if most people read these writers reporting, and other exposes on the case, this witch hunt against Allen would be quickly revealed for the sham that it is. I hate to have had to address this, but it had to be, so there it is. In closing, watch, "A Rainy Day in New York," it's a treat that deserves to be indulged by any Woody Allen fan.

another beautiful movie by woody

Great product, but in it self the movie is disappointing. Timothée Chalamet is the best aspect of this film. NTSC / Zone 1 / DVD

While Woody Allen doesn't appear in the film, his representative character speaks with his voice. His quirks of speaking are so much his own that another actor speaking his dialogue can seem unconvincing, but I'm sure that is just because I'm familiar with Allen's genre. However, that is a trivial comment and the film is entertaining.

英語圏で非公開となった作品ですが、もともとの英語のバージョンで楽しむことができました　言語はドイツ語と英語から選ぶことができ、字幕はドイツ語だけです(もちろんsubtitleを表示しないこともできます)　いろいろと批判されている作品ですし、出演した俳優の皆さんもいい思い出をお持ちでないようですが、十分楽しい作品だと思いますYou can watch it in both German and English.　Subtitle is German only. 　Though this is one of the highly controversial films, it is good enough for me to watch. Have fun.

This is not one of Woody Allen's best movies but I still enjoyed watching it. It has the charm you expect from his movies, just immerse yourself into his dream world for the duration and let go, that's what I like.

Cute fun and romantic! The NY back grownd is AMAZING and beautiful! I recomend this movie! I loved it :-)