Sidewalks of New York (2001)

The interlocking lives and loves of six New Yorkers.

Director:

Edward Burns

Writer:

Edward Burns

Stars:

Edward Burns, Heather Graham, Penny Balfour

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Penny Balfour	...	Young Hooker
Edward Burns	...	Tommy
Michael Leydon Campbell	...	Gio / Harry
Nadia Dajani	...	Hilary
Rosario Dawson	...	Maria
Kathleen Doyle	...	Katy
Dennis Farina	...	Carpo
Heather Graham	...	Annie
Leah Gray	...	Dental Hygienist
Timothy Jerome	...	Dr. Lance (as Tim Jerome)
David Krumholtz	...	Ben
Libby Langdon	...	Make-up Girl
Alicia Meer	...	Elevator Girl
Brittany Murphy	...	Ashley
Ted Neustadt	...	Doctor

Storyline

Six New Yorkers have an interrelated series of relationships. TV producer Tommy, who's just broken up with his girlfriend, has a short relationship with commitment-phobe Maria, who he meets in a video store, and also hooks up with married real-estate agent Annie, who he meets while apartment hunting. Annie is open to a relationship because her husband, Griffin, is cheating on her, which she slowly comes to realize through talking to her friend/co-worker who's gone through the same thing. Griffin, a 39-year-old dentist, is cheating with 19-year-old waitress Ashley, who he picked up in a park; she realizes she can do better when Ben, a hotel doorman and aspiring musician, tries to pick her up, in a belated attempt to recover from his divorce a year ago from schoolteacher Maria (the same Maria from the video store). Most of these relationships seem driven more by a desperate need to be in a relationship than actual love.

---

Plot Keywords:

video store | doorman | waitress | dentist | divorce | 

---

Taglines:

In A City Of 8 Million People - What Are The Chances Of Meeting The Right One?

---

Genres:

Comedy | Romance

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content and language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 November 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Calles de Nueva York

Filming Locations:

New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$545,132, 25 November 2001, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$2,402,459, 12 May 2002

Company Credits

Production Co:

Artists Production Group (APG),Marlboro Road Gang Productions,Newmarket Capital Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The original poster for this film was pulled due to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The poster showed the pre-attack NY skyline, including the intact WTC and was felt to be inappropriate.

---

Goofs

When Ben is sitting in the bathroom strumming his guitar, the chords change but the fingers of his left hand clearly do not.

---

Quotes

Carpo: I'm going to tell you something. I'm going to talk to you like a son. Chicks don't brush guys off. Guys brush chicks off. It's just the way it works, Tommy.

---

Crazy Credits

MADE WITH PRIDE IN THE U.S.A.

---

Connections

References Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989)

---

Soundtracks

Sheep Go to Heaven
(1998)
Instrumental - John McCrea (as J. McCrea)
Stamen Music / EMI Blackwood Music Inc. (BMI)
Performed by Cake
Original version from the album Prolonging the Magic (1998)
Capricorn Records LLC

User Reviews

A Depressing, Charmless exercise

Heather Graham, in one of her better performances, and Dennis Farina as comedic relief, provide much of this film's minor merits.

Otherwise, it's a pretty cynical exercise, and the device of having the characters talk to an unseen interviewer is made doubly annoying by the fact that the characters' observations are banal and uninteresting (the device was used to great effect in a French movie A Pornographic Affair).

I found all the male characters to be thoroughly unsympathetic, ranging from pathetic (the doorman), totally lacking in introspection (Burns), and venal (Tucci). While I'm sure Burns would say the point was to show how screwed-up men can be, I don't think it does anybody any favours to repeatedly depict men stalking and showing up unannounced to exes and flames' apartments/houses. Reinforces that this is somewhat understandable and normal behaviour.

And, aside from the one couple (perhaps), these characters' dwellings are preposterous given their station in life, unless we're to believe they all have large trust funds.