Film Review: Autumn in New York (2000)
May-December romances are big “no no” in Hollywood films today, at least when they feature older heterosexual male as one of the parties. Such sentiments weren’t so codified or enforced in the past, but even in somewhat less “politically correct” times, like roughly quarter a century ago, such content could have made large segment of critics quite hostile. An example can be found in Autumn in New York, 2000 romantic drama directed by Joan Chen.
Protagonist, played by Richard Gere, is Will Keane, 48-year old owner of popular New York City restaurant, also known for his reputation of irresistible womaniser. The latest target of his romantic conquest is going to be Charlotte Fielding (played by Winona Ryder), attractive woman who is 22 years old. The relationship is from the very start burdened with issue much more serious than Will being more than twice the age of his latest girlfriend. Charlotte suffers from rare, incurable and fatal disease and will die within a year. Will is at first unable to face that fact and only later realises that he has fallen desperately in love with Charlotte, which forces him to reconsider his way of life and attitude towards women.
Autumn in New York was treated poorly by critics, although it had modest success at box office, which could be best explained with stellar power of the main cast. Another star, Chinese actress Joan Chen, was behind the camera, with this film being her second directorial effort (which followed Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl, produced in China). Her effort in this film had very disappointing results. The main issue was script by Allison Burnett which employed all the most annoying melodrama cliches and filled almost any scene with cringe sentimentality. Casting was also wrong. While Gere still had the looks to pass as irresistible middle-aged seducer, Ryder, actress with undeniable ability to be charming, looked unattractive with her “heroin chic” image and, furthermore, lacked any chemistry in her scenes with Gere. Supporting actors, like Anthony LaPaglia, were much better, while cinematography by Gu Changwei made New York City locations quite appealing. But those simply aren’t reasons enough for viewers to spend precious time on this failed film.
RATING: 3/10 (+)
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