Autumn in New York film review

certificate_15

AUTUMN IN NEW YORK

Acclaimed actress Joan Chen strays behind the camera for this sappy romantic drama about a love affair that unfolds in the Big Apple.

Womanising chef Will Keane (Gere) lives for the present. He doesn't believe in forever and shies away from committing himself to anyone. His attitude changes when he meets beautiful young designer Charlotte (Ryder), an orphan raised since birth by her cantankerous grandmother Dolly (Stritch).

Will and Charlotte overlook the obvious age difference - he is 44, she is 22 - but their friends and family warn against getting too involved. Dolly is especially cautious, as is Will's top bartender John (LaPaglia).

Oblivious to the pitfalls, the pair fall in love, but their happiness is short-lived when Charlotte is diagnosed with a life-threatening heart disease. She turns down the slender chance offered by a risky operation, and decides to die in the arms of the man she loves.

Gere is making something of a habit of wooing female co-stars almost half his age - Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, Julia Ormond in First Knight and now the winsome Winona Ryder.

This pairing is anything but electric - not once do you believe that Will andCharlotte are in love. Still, Chen photographs them beautifully, often in sensual close-up, and sets the unfolding romance against some of New York's most breathtaking scenery, including the falling leaves in Central Park.

But the narrative drags its heels badly, supported by hastily contrived sub-plots which begin and go nowhere, such as the disclosure that Will oncedated Charlotte's mother.And the final 10 minutes pushes every emotional button, wringing every last sympathetic sniffle out of the audience. Autumn In New York is manipulative, and makes no attempt to hide it.