Review: 'A Rainy Day in New York' is Breezy Allen Shtick

Woody Allen's private life aside, he is probably America's most prolific filmmaker and bastion of love letters to New York. His latest, "A Rainy Day in New York," is no exception.

Starring a slew of new and consistent A-List talent, Allen's new film is a single day ode to the city he loves, with the same type of neurotic characters he's famous for. While the plot offers nothing deep or new, watching the actors play around in Allen's world is fun, even if every single male character is trying to do an impression of Allen.

Timoth�e Chalamet plays Gatsby, a rich college student aimlessly trying to figure out what to do with his life. His bubbly girlfriend Ashleigh (Elle Fanning) has just gotten the lucky assignment to interview a renowned filmmaker named Roland Pollard for her college newspaper. (Really?) She is set to go to Manhattan that Saturday for an hour-long discussion with him, so Gatsby decides they should make a romantic weekend out of it. However, his plans are waylaid when Pollard (Liev Schreiber) decides he wants Ashleigh to watch his latest film – a project he's thinking of quitting because he has no perspective on it.

Gatsby winds up having to wander the city to not only avoid his family and old high school friends, but to push aside his anxiety that Ashleigh is going to have an affair with the famous director. He ends up running into his old girlfriend's now grown-up sister Chan (Selena Gomez) and being roped into kissing her for a student film project. The two end up at a museum together, discussing relationships, the future, and her attraction to him when she was younger.

Meanwhile, Ashleigh has to deal with Pollard running out of the screening, his screenwriter Ted (Jude Law) stalking his wife (Rebecca Hall) - who may be having an affair - and then meeting international film star Francisco Vega (Diego Luna) and going on a date with him. All the while she is drinking wine, smoking pot, and generally trying to get the "scoop" on everyone's personal lives.

At 92 minutes, the movie is swift and breezy, and the actors all give it their best Allen quirk. As stated, the drawback is everyone wants to play Allen. Chalamet is clearly Allen's stand-in here, adopting the hunched shoulders and mumbled random banter that is his trademark. But that anxious, nervous Allen comes out in Law, Schreiber, and even Luna. It's only the women that stand out as different, although you can feel Fanning trying her best to do a version of Diane Keaton.

The MVP here – and surprisingly so – is former child actor and current pop star Selena Gomez. While she's appeared in non-TV/non-Disney films before, here she is working with an iconic and she excels. She creates a character that is bold, straight-forward, and yet still charming. You almost want her to be the star of the film - she's that good.

Chalamet is fine, but the mimicking of Allen gets old, and the whining of his character (Allen's script's fault) runs thin after a while. Fanning is cute, but you almost feel her enthusiasm for being in a Woody Allen film, rather than her character, which, to be frank, feels a bit cartoony. She's still good, and she has some great moments, but it all feels a bit forced. (She also still looks like she's 15, so any time she gets hit on it feles awkward.)

Ultimately, spending "A Rainy Day in New York" is exactly what it is. A nice change of pace, a little exciting, and ends before it overstays it's welcome.

"A Rainy Day in New York" will be released on Digital, VOD and Blu-ray/DVD on November 10th.