The Ballad of Greenwich Village

You'd think a place renowned for its avant-gardism and its radical chic would receive a less by-the-numbers treatment.

If you've ever harbored a secret wish to jump on one of those Big Apple buses or join a local walking tour, you'll find what you're looking for here.

Some revealing historical facts are scattered through Karen Kramer's documentary about Greenwich Village. Most of the film, however, is devoted to sound bites from celebrities who used to live or hang out there.

[A] sometimes entertaining and illuminating, but more often superficial, labor of love.

The Ballad of Greenwich Village is a safe movie about a renegade place.

Karen Kramer's hopeful, lovingly made documentary, a ballad with a recurrent refrain, never lets us forget that the spirit will not die.

Kramer's incisive portrait explains the Village's uniquely crooked streets...

Those most interested in seeing it -- New Yorkers themselves -- will probably be left wanting a bit more.