Sidewalks of New York (2001) * * *

Directed by:  Edward Burns

Starring:  Edward Burns, Heather Graham, Stanley Tucci, Brittany Murphy, David Krumholtz, Dennis Farina, Rosario Dawson, Aida Turturro

The backstory of the delayed release of 2001's Sidewalks of New York is likely more remembered than the film itself.    Scheduled for release shortly after the 9/11 attacks, the movie's release was instead pushed back to November 2001 because I suppose the idea of hearing the words "New York" in a film title or viewing the Twin Towers would cause some people to freak out to the point of apoplexy.    I'm shocked the studio didn't change the name of the movie to Sidewalks.    There is sensitivity to a recent horrible terrorist attack, and then there is this insanity. 

On to the movie, which is a fun lark through the romantic lives of six or seven New Yorkers with a definite Woody Allen feel.    I could've done without the pseudo-documentary like footage in which some of the characters are interviewed about their attitudes on sex, love, romance, and their current romantic situations.    But, when the stories are given the chance to play out, they are charming and knowing about love, or at least people's perceptions of it. 

Before Sidewalks, Edward Burns wrote and directed the intelligent romantic comedies The Brothers McMullen and She's the One.    Sidewalks of New York expands the Burns universe to a few more interlocking romances in which the subjects are connected.    We meet Tommy (Burns), who is looking to romance skittish schoolteacher Maria (Dawson), who is fresh from a divorce from Ben (Krumholtz), who while pining for his ex is also looking to romance college student Ashley (Murphy), who is having an affair with dentist Griffin (Tucci), who is married to realtor Annie (Graham), who completes the circle by flirting with Tommy as she shows him Manhattan apartments.

The subplots are fairly easy to keep straight and there is also the late, indispensable Dennis Farina as Tommy's aging Lothario boss who offers cynical, yet sage advice on dating.   ("I'm as big a dog as there is, but even I know to stay away from married women,")   Farina always had a way of cutting through the crap and creating genuine authenticity in every scene.  Not a word leaves his lips which doesn't sound heartfelt and true.  I miss him dearly.  

Burns, the actor, is a welcome presence.   He is less neurotic than Allen, whom he clearly patterns his comedies after, and maintains a certain edge even while putting on the charm.   I especially liked the wordless, awkward showdown between Ben and Tommy outside Maria's apartment, in which Ben glares at Tommy while Tommy stands with arms folded resisting any chance of small talk.    Another standout is Tucci, whose Griffin is a heartless womanizer who still manages to believe he is a decent person while all evidence points to the contrary.   He deludes himself temporarily into thinking he is in love with Ashley, or is he just more into her now that she made herself unavailable?  

Sidewalks of New York poses fundamental questions which no one really knows the answers to.   They, like we, just do the best we can with the information presented and what we know about ourselves.    Even then, most people still find a way to screw it up, because hearts and minds are unpredictable and rarely agree.