Not as good as Paris, je t'aime as a whole, but have a few very good scenes. My favorite segment is no doubt the one with the old couple as they kept bantering with each other while walking down the street. The arguing was both natural and funny, and you could feel the love they share for each other. It was memorable. The Ethan Hawke segment was interesting too and even reminded me of Before Sunset somewhat. However overall, the stories are not tightly associated with New York. It becomes more of a backdrop instead of living in it. The people, the diversity, the culture, and the life are not depicted as richly as in Paris je t'aime, even though the latter also suffered from a couple of weak segments.

B-

I thought it was really good and enjoyed it more than Paris, je t'aime. That film featured more than one terrible short, while this one doesn't really have an outright disaster in the mix. I'll go down the line based on the director.

Jiang Wen - I was really looking forward to this one because I'm a big fan of Rachel Bilson. I enjoyed it but it was a bit confusing and choppy at points - this was one of the clearest examples of a concept needing more time to develop in order to succeed. Performances were good though from Bilson, Hayden Christensen and Andy Garcia.

Mira Nair - This honestly made no sense at all and was one of the weaker installments. The conversation between Natalie Portman and Irfan Khan was cute at first but quickly evolved into pretentious nonsense, and I lost interest very quickly.

Shunji Iwai - This was adorable. I really enjoyed seeing the relationship develop between Orlando Bloom and Christina Ricci and the resolution to it all was very sweet.

Brett Ratner - I LOVED this one. It was absolutely hilarious. Great work from Anton Yelchin and Olivia Thirlby. Definitely one of the highlights.

Yvan Attal - Another fantastic one. I loved the dynamic that existed between Ethan Hawke and Shu Qi, their conversation and flirting was great and seemed very realistic, and the resolution was both hilarious and surprising.

Shekhar Kapur - I really disliked this one, it was probably my least favorite of the bunch. It was so incredibly pretentious and when broken down made zero sense. The visuals were alright but got tiring after a while because it seemed like Kapur was so intent on making this feel as off-putting as possible. Shia LaBeouf's performance was average but Julie Christie was very good. A disappointment, especially given the fact that it was written by the late Anthony Minghella.

Allen Hughes - Another one that really didn't work that well. The voiceovers of Bradley Cooper and Drea de Matteo got very annoying after a while and the whole thing was very poorly executed. I did like the ending to it though and I got what it was trying to accomplish. I preferred Cooper's work in the rest of the film when he showed up in a few of the other stories.

Yvan Attal - This one was stunning. The dialogue between Chris Cooper and Robin Wright Penn was great and the ending was very poignant and emotional. I really loved it.

Joshua Marston - This one is getting the majority of the praise and I have to agree, it is probably the best piece in the film. Cloris Leachman and Eli Wallach were great here, they had excellent chemistry and their performances were very true-to-life.

Natalie Portman - It's cute and very well-shot. I had nothing against it but ultimately it doesn't accomplish much and is somewhat forgettable compared to the other pieces in the film.

Jiang Wen - Really didn't like this one. It had the potential to be really emotional but ended up being quite anticlimactic despite what happens in the end.

There's also a storyline involving a video artist filming everything she sees that serves as an interesting way to tie all the stories together.

Overall it's definitely worth checking out, especially if you're familiar with or live in the city in question. It's got some weak spots but overall it's a very solid flick. B+

New York, I Love You may not be the best romance film out there but it is a lot of fun during its running time. While we don't see every story resolved and mostly just started throughout the film, each one outside of only one of them (the Shia LaBeouf story) are filled with fun and engaging characters that keep the story going. Set against the beautiful backdrop of New York, the film shows all different kinds of love, wanting, and exploration there is. Whether it be a new fling or a long marriage, many aspects are covered. For a quick little romance film to watch, New York, I Love You is a smart choice. **1/2