And that's why I am giving it a 6 instead of a 4. I've read dozens of reviews of Manhattan, trying to understand what people love about it. Each and every review praises the romance brought to screen. There must be something wrong with me because I didn't find this movie romantic at all. It seemed like a string of narcissistic flings more than any true romances. Not one character was the least bit appealing, except maybe for Tracy, if only for her sincerity. I thought Issac was a complete louse, and not because of the age difference; he just seemed selfish, flippant, and needy. He did have some good lines though, especially mocking the pseudo-intellectual art crowd, and the scene with the skeleton was pretty great. I thought Keaton was annoying, and Streep was pacing around way too much. Was she attached to a motor or something? Look, it's not that I need to have lovable characters. Scorsese has horrible characters but they serve the story, when the point is corruption, violence, what have you. But if the point is romance, then the characters should at least be tolerable. Not these neurotic rich white new yorkers! Maybe other ones in other Allen vehicles. The music was about a thousand decibels louder than the rest of the sound in the film, so that I was forced to keep adjusting the volume with the remote, even though I don't like altering the experience of a work. The photography is wonderful. Too bad the content underneath it is so banal. And I like banality! My favorite director is Robert Altman, for goodness sake. It didn't make sense to me that the film making was so artistic, yet what I was watching was so bland. It's like if Orson Wells shot Monster-in-law. Well, that might be an exaggeration. Anyhow, the style just didn't seem appropriate. Maybe it would have if I had felt the amazing romance. Or if I had seen this when I was going through my wistful New York phase. Alas, Manhattan is certainly not what it once was, too bad. Basically, I felt like this should have been my kind of movie but just wasn't at all, and there aren't enough negative words about it on the internet. That's why I have written this. I certainly wouldn't fault anyone for liking Manhattan, as I wouldn't fault anyone for liking your mom, it just misses the mark with me.
Review of Manhattan
