New York City Serenade

Boys Being Boys--The Sweetest "Bromance
Frank Whaley's "New York City Serenade" is a modest film that is somewhat successful at achieving its limited goals. At its core, the film is an ultimate "bromance" between two life long friends played by Freddie Prinze Jr and Chris Klein. As an aspiring filmmaker, Prinze is the more stable of the two--having a devoted girlfriend (Jamie Lynn Sigler in an underdeveloped role) and a burgeoning career. He's just been invited to a film festival to showcase his 6 minute film, which appears to be dreadful, but we've all got to start somewhere! Klein, on the other hand, is a musician who lives for drink and ladies. He seems to have alienated himself from his wife and distanced himself from his daughter (in an underdeveloped side story).

In a film such as this, you have to ask yourself if the characters are really people you'd like to invest 100 minutes of your life to follow. I'm not sure my answer was "yes" for "New York City Serenade." Prinze, with little provocation or reason,...

The jittery Vacancy/Pulp Fiction guy helms a film
Freddie Prinze Jr goes for another NYC light drama/light comedy piece, his second in as many years, and once again it fell quite flat. I cannot short him in one instance towards the end when he lets loose into a tirade that probably showcases his talent better than those films combined; a rare little gem for him. Otherwise the writing tanked this from the get-go.

We have a story surrounding four friends plugging their way through bachelorhood in the city. Through the coarse of two trips we suffer their "bonding" time, one involving all four to a friend's funeral, and another with just Klein's and Prinze's characters showcasing at a film festival. The writing was so inconsistent that the film could not decide what it wanted to be. We get 20 minutes of character intro about how this group will go to underage parties for sex, steal random stuff, cheat on a fiance, and so on - but when one of the guys tries to take valuables offered to him, his buddies get upset..? The first...

Good light movie to relax.
A good light movie to relax. No drama, but lots of twists and turns.

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