"Autumn In New York" has delectable shots of brown and golden leaves fluttering down in the winds from craggy old tree branches, covering wet sidewalks and surrounding two movie stars staring into each other's eyes. But these stars (Richard Gere and Winona Ryder) are distinctly un-New York, and the filmmakers keep everything mushy, flip and coy. Ryder looks lovely, but she giggles too much in between her incredulous comments: "REALLY?!"..."WOW!"..."AM-MAAZING!" Gere, laughing with his mouth closed, gives a bloated performance, scrunching his face while tearing up at his black, beady eyes. Anthony LaPaglia is much better in a smallish role as Gere's best friend, Elaine Strich is amusingly jaded as Ryder's disapproving grandmother (although her line about only being able to afford pistachio nuts is ludicrous when she lives in such beautiful New York digs), but this romance cops a corny plea from "Love Story", and how long ago was that? The fact that some reviewers actually fell for this is, like, AM-MAAZING! *1/2 from ****
Review of Autumn in New York
