It's a good-looking and whimsical New York comedy about a 1920s guy in a 1990s world, and it's bolstered by handsome black-and-white cinematography and an attractive cast of local talent, including some fresh up-and-coming Broadway performers. Just one problem: The premise is ludicrous. How this man could exist for one hour in modern Manhattan, let alone day in and day out, how he reconciles the wild contradictions between his subjective viewpoint and cold hard reality, what he lives on, why his mother is in a similar time warp, how he could charm a contemporary woman -- none of it's explained. And to just say, "well, that's the premise" won't do. Even farce needs internal logic. This one tries to float on nothing but atmosphere, and it's a victim of its own well-meaning but hopelessly irrational whimsy.
Review of Man of the Century
