New York City Serenade (2007)
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8% of critics liked it
(13 reviews) -
21% of users liked it
(342 ratings)
Two lifelong pals living in New York City discover that sometimes the only way to remain friends is to grow apart in this semi-autobiographical drama from screenwriter/director Frank Whaley. Owen (Freddie Prinze, Jr. is an aspiring filmmaker who frequently spends the early hours of the evening with… More Two lifelong pals living in New York City discover that sometimes the only way to remain friends is to grow apart in this semi-autobiographical drama from screenwriter/director Frank Whaley. Owen (Freddie Prinze, Jr. is an aspiring filmmaker who frequently spends the early hours of the evening with his girlfriend Lynn (Jamie-Lynn Siegler) before ducking out to watch best-friend Ray (Chris Klein)'s provide the beats for his popular bar band. By day Owen may work at the local photomat, but when night falls he strives to forget about his dead end job by drinking the town dry and raising hell with Owen and company. The late night hours, when Owen and Ray inevitably end up at raucous parties with uninhibited women and plenty of booze, are usually when things get really interesting though. One day, after Owen receives word that his latest film has been invited to screen in a popular festival, the lives of these two best friends begin to travel down divergent paths. Now Ray begins to see himself in competition with Lynn for Owens attentions, and the death of a friend's father prompts both friends to stand back and take stock of their lives. Later, after Owen and Ray meet actor Wallace Shawn at the airport, the unlikely trio strikes up an amiable friendship. Trouble soon arises, however, when Owen discovers that Ray has been posing as Shawn's son and the two part ways on unfriendly terms. But as with most lifelong friends it's only a matter of time before Owen and Ray find their way back into one another's company, and eighteen months apart can work wonders for healing old wounds. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Directed By
- Frank Whaley
- Genres
- Drama, Comedy
R,
- In Theaters
- Sep 13, 2007 Wide
Critic Reviews
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Kyle Smith, New York Post
One of those pointless indies that you'll have forgotten before the credits roll.
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Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
The overgrown boys at its center are so unappealing that the setting certainly won't make their trials worth your time.
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Nathan Lee, New York Times
The movie is a character study about two underachieving dullards scarcely worth contemplating.
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Ben Walters, Time Out New York
The reason this 2007 drama has languished for so long could be that it's a bromance whose moment has only now arrived; more likely, it's because Frank Whaley's lightweight slice of life is so crashingly ordinary.
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Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter
This ersatz Swingers attempts to tap into the male psyche as represented by a pair of one-note losers (played by Freddie Prinze Jr. and Chris Klein), but the self-absorbed film keeps playing the same, talky refrain.
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Cast
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Chris Klein
as Ray
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Freddie Prinze Jr.
as Owen
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Jamie-Lynn Sigler
as Lynn
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Sebastian Roche
as Noam
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Heather Bucha
as Mary
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Wallace Shawn
as Himself
- Alexander Chaplin
