Throughout the history of Hollywood, moviegoers have been subjected to that heartwarming lie that is the “romantic comedy.”
You know the formula. Single girl is unhappy and bored. She meets an incredibly attractive man but doesn’t like him. He pursues her relentlessly. After two hours of demurely rejecting him, she suddenly realizes that he is what is missing from her life and falls dramatically into his arms. They kiss. Fade out.
Some hopelessly romantic souls may love the Candyland ideology of this fantasy world, but for those who gag on its sickening sweetness there is an antidote.
“Sidewalks of New York,” the new film from writer/director/super-thespian Ed Burns, is it.
“Sidewalks” poses as an on-the-street documentary about a group of Manhattanites fumbling their way through the travails of romance. Packed with a stellar cast, the film offers an unabashed look at the awkwardness, pain, deceit and joy that is love.
The film is anchored by a series of sidewalk interviews of the cast offering their stories to an unseen documentary filmmaker. Wrapped around these are long scenes where the camera silently follows these people into hotel rooms, bathrooms and bedrooms and offers a fly-on-the-wall look at the truth of their lives.
Ed Burns (“Saving Private Ryan”) plays Tommy, a wealthy and newly single young man who is searching for a wife to have children with. He meets and falls for Maria (Rosario Dawson, “Kids”) a divorced woman with a fear of commitment. Maria is constantly forced to curtail the advances of her ex-husband Ben (David Krumholtz, “The Mexican”), who is still in love with her.
One day while having lunch at a city diner Ben meets and falls for his waitress Ashley (Brittany Murphy, “Riding in Cars with Boys”). Ashley is, however, in love with the married man that she’s having an affair with.
This man is Griffin (Stanley Tucci, “The Big Night”), an unbelievably self-absorbed dentist. Griffin is married to Annie (Heather Graham, “Boogie Nights”). Annie is a real estate agent who happens to be helping Tommy find a new apartment.
Burns expertly weaves these myriad lives together while making the associations seem natural and unforced. It’s a small world, even in New York, and “Sidewalks” plays on that concept beautifully.
But be forewarned, this film may be about romance and it may be a comedy, but it is not a romantic comedy. Tucci plays Griffin so disgustingly well that it is enraging to watch him reduce the women in his life to sexual objects.
Heather Graham turns in a great performance as the neglected wife who knows the truth but is terrified of it. Murphy and Krumholtz also shine as two young people so desperate to be loved that it’s almost too painful to watch.
“Sidewalks of New York” is a biting black comedy on the true roller coaster behind dating. This is a grittier and sharper New York than we often see in films.
Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack may be in the same city sharing a frozen hot chocolate and staring into each other’s eyes in the warm and fuzzy “Serendipity,” but just down the street the characters of “Sidewalks” are battling with fidelity, unexpected pregnancies and unrequited love. So the cineplex offers you a choice — will you take your romance with sugar or without?
Grade: A/B
