Even setting aside Allen's personal history that inescapably boosts the creep factor of one of the central relationships, this movie is filled with utterly unlikeable people doing immoral things. Supposedly a love letter to the titular city, the only thing that rises even to admirability is the cinematography. Except for the romanticizing of the city via the look of the film, there is zero romance to any of these relationships. I will never be able to suspend disbelief at the idea, in many of Allen's films where he plays the main character, that he's somehow such an attractive Casanova that he gets himself into these predicaments to begin with. His characters are such annoying, whiny-voiced trolls. The humor is low-key, nothing laugh-out-loud funny, but a few chuckles. It's the kind of movie pseudo-intellectuals write and give glowing reviews of, but for the rest of us it's just a big shrug. If these are the types of people that are typical of Manhattanites, then screw Manhattan, and definitely this movie.
Review of Manhattan
