Dir. Frank Whaley. US 2007. 103 mins.
The title of New York City Serenade and an opening aerial skyline shot would lead you to believe that the film is an ode to New York . It's really an ode to friendship with a friend who gets you to the wrong places to drink too much and chase the wrong girls. Frank Whaley's comedy about the perils of perpetual adolescence is inspired by the British comedy Withnail and I, Bruce Robinson's remembrance of adventures with a self-destructive rogue in the 1960's. Fans of that film may come to this one out of curiosity, and fans of Frank Whaley as an actor and two-time director should also rally to his third shot behind the camera. Not much else about New York City Serenade suggests that it will build an audience in or beyond New York.

The comedy scripted by Whaley is built around the special bond between the aspiring filmmaker Owen (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) and the rock drummer and irrepressible degenerate Ray (Chris Klein). The two join up at the bar where Ray plays every night and then go out on the prowl for booze, sex and fun. Being the heroes of this movie, they find it.

Carousing ends up costing Owen his square fiancee, Lynn (Jamie-Lynn Sigler), but it takes following Ray through a lot more misadventures for Owen to see that growing up is a better option than getting smashed at another party that he and his friends have crashed.

It's sound enough advice, and we all know that growing up is hard to do, but New York City Serenade doesn't break enough rules of the mid-1990's Sundance coming-of-age buddy template to bring any new insights to the bonds of male friendship. Nor are there enough zinger lines in the script to keep you going for the laughs.

As Owen, Freddie Prinze Jr. is a believable guy working a boring job and dreaming of something else, who's willing to follow a gonzo leader almost anywhere. As Ray, Chris Klein is an Alpha male who knows how to find the free drinks, break the furniture and talk to girls.

In an improbably comic section of New York City Serenade, the pair travel to a film festival, where Owen is to show his short film. Ray spots one of the festival's special guests, Wallace Shawn. When he overhears that Shawn's son is staying at the Four Seasons, the two lay claim to the room and demand champagne, room service and limousines, invoking the Shawn name as if it were Spielberg. Soon enough, Owen and Ray end up on the street and their friendship ends that night.

In another scene, Owen and Lynn meet a pompous French professor at a screening of Whaley's two earlier directorial outings, listed in French on the marquee of a downtown theatre - a suggestion that true auteurs are unappreciated at home' Whaley in a cameo as a hapless film festival driver in a car full of trash is another funny turn.

There are not enough funny moments like those in New York City Serenade. For a film that suggests that it is a love affair with New York, not much of the New York that the public might know finds its way on the screen through DP Ryan Samul's lens.

Director
Frank Whaley

Production Companies/Backers
Archer Entertainment

US Distributor
None

International Sales
The Film Sales Company (US)

Producer
Rachel Peters

Executive Producer
Rick Whealen

Screenplay
Frank Whaley

Cinematographer
Ryan Samul

Editor
Miran Miosic

Production Designer
Dara Wishingrad

Sound
Stuart Deutsch

Music
Ed Harcourt

Main Cast
Freddie Prinze, Jr.
Chris Klein
Jamie-Lynn Sigler
Sebastian Roche

Topics