Post by Vits on Jan 1, 2020 10:31:28 GMT
A RAINY DAY IN NEW YORK is funny for the most part and a lot of the performances are good, but it's very obvious that an octogenarian wrote this script. There's no texting, no social media and almost no swearing. No college student, no matter how pretentious, talks the way these characters do (a lot of the jokes, for some reason, involve the mention of a disease or a kind of doctor). At least the character that's obviously meant to represent Woody Allen isn't as annoying as he could've been. Yes, he goes on and on about how much he hates snobs and pseudo-intellectuals despite him obviously being one, but he doesn't appear in every scene and, when he does, he usually surrounds himself with other better-written characters. I normally don't think about the bad things the people involved in a movie have done in real life while I'm watching it. Therefore, I wasn't expecting to be thinking about Woody's rape allegations (which I happen to believe are untrue), his marriage to Soon-Yi Previn (which I don't approve of) nor the whole Time's Up movement while watching the movie (which is what delayed its release worldwide and what cancelled its release domestically)... but there are similarities that are hard to miss:
-GATSBY WELLES (if you're going to write such a fake-sounding name, at least have the other characters acknowledge it) runs into his ex-girlfriend's sister after many years. He used to think of her as a child, but now he sees her as a woman. I know this because he says it with almost those exact words. Oh, and her name is CHAN. This should be icky, but it's actually confusing, because they seem to have around the same age. And she doesn't look Asian.
-GATSBY's girlfriend ASHLEIGH ENRIGHT has an interview with middle-aged director ROLAND POLLARD, who almost immediately flirts with her. So does script writer TED DAVIDOFF, although he takes him time. I know that she's not an actress trying to become a star, but they're still being unprofessional. I'm sure that this is meant to be a satire and not a male fantasy, but it's too light-hearted. She's always smiling and, while she doesn't flirt back, we never see her directly turning them down nor calling them out on their wrong behavior.
There are some plot holes:
-ASHLEIGH tells TED that she's ready to ask him some questions. He says OK, but then he immediately asks her a question. They have a whole conversation where she's the one answering. I was waiting for the "Hey, I should be the one asking the questions" punchline, but it never came.
-Actor FRANCISCO VEGA also hits on ASHLEIGH, but she's OK with it because he's younger and better-looking than the other 2 guys (if Woody hadn't written this script before #MeToo, I would accuse this of being tone-deaf). They're recorded together in public and it's shown in the news. The anchorwoman says they make a cute couple. Based on how many shallow and narrow-minded people are in the world, I think it would be more realistic for her to make negative comments about their age difference. In fact, another character in another scene acknowledges how ASHLEIGH still looks like a teenager.
6/10
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You can read comments of other movies in my blog.
One report revealed that the movie features a plot in which a character played by Jude Law, 45-years-old in real life, has a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl, played by Elle Fanning (20 in real life).Not exactly.
-GATSBY WELLES (if you're going to write such a fake-sounding name, at least have the other characters acknowledge it) runs into his ex-girlfriend's sister after many years. He used to think of her as a child, but now he sees her as a woman. I know this because he says it with almost those exact words. Oh, and her name is CHAN. This should be icky, but it's actually confusing, because they seem to have around the same age. And she doesn't look Asian.
-GATSBY's girlfriend ASHLEIGH ENRIGHT has an interview with middle-aged director ROLAND POLLARD, who almost immediately flirts with her. So does script writer TED DAVIDOFF, although he takes him time. I know that she's not an actress trying to become a star, but they're still being unprofessional. I'm sure that this is meant to be a satire and not a male fantasy, but it's too light-hearted. She's always smiling and, while she doesn't flirt back, we never see her directly turning them down nor calling them out on their wrong behavior.
There are some plot holes:
-ASHLEIGH tells TED that she's ready to ask him some questions. He says OK, but then he immediately asks her a question. They have a whole conversation where she's the one answering. I was waiting for the "Hey, I should be the one asking the questions" punchline, but it never came.
-Actor FRANCISCO VEGA also hits on ASHLEIGH, but she's OK with it because he's younger and better-looking than the other 2 guys (if Woody hadn't written this script before #MeToo, I would accuse this of being tone-deaf). They're recorded together in public and it's shown in the news. The anchorwoman says they make a cute couple. Based on how many shallow and narrow-minded people are in the world, I think it would be more realistic for her to make negative comments about their age difference. In fact, another character in another scene acknowledges how ASHLEIGH still looks like a teenager.
-ASHLEIGH and FRANCISCO are about to have sex, when the latter's girlfriend shows up. That's right: He lied about being single. Wait. A heartthrob movie star is cheating on his girlfriend isn't brought up during the news? Especially when the girlfriend is a movie star too? How did she not find out on her own, in this modern-day world (again, he's an octogenarian)? Why wasn't FRANCISCO worried about being seen in public with ASHLEIGH, especially around the paparazzi?
-ASHLEIGH sneaks out of FRANCISCO's house in her underwear. Does she ever go back for her clothes? What about her other belongings?
-GATSBY discovers that his mom used to be a prostitute. While it's not something impossible to accept, it would take a while. It takes him less than a day. He even makes a joke about a random guy sleeping with her. Who talks like this about their own mother?! And no, it's not presented as him using humor to cope with the situation or anything like that.
-ASHLEIGH sneaks out of FRANCISCO's house in her underwear. Does she ever go back for her clothes? What about her other belongings?
-GATSBY discovers that his mom used to be a prostitute. While it's not something impossible to accept, it would take a while. It takes him less than a day. He even makes a joke about a random guy sleeping with her. Who talks like this about their own mother?! And no, it's not presented as him using humor to cope with the situation or anything like that.
6/10
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You can read comments of other movies in my blog.
