New York Stories (1989)

Good idea but uneven execution.The concept: three of the greatest movie directors the world has known, Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, are each given a 35-40 minute segment to make a mini-movie set in New York. The three segments are not connected in any way. The result is New York Stories.The movie starts with Scorsese's segment, titled "Life Lessons". A famous artist, Lionel Dobie (played by Nick Nolte), is in love with the artist he is mentoring, Paulette (played by Rosanna Arquette). However, the feeling is not mutual...Coppola's segment, "Life without Zoe", involves a young girl, Zoe (played by Heather McComb) and her privileged-yet-parentless life.Woody Allen's segment, "Oedipus Wrecks", completes the movie. A NY lawyer, Sheldon Mills (played by Woody Allen), is constantly being embarrassed by his aging mother. Then one evening he takes her to a magic show and things take a turn for the bizarre...The Scorsese contribution was interesting, with a nice twist at the end. Did seem to in circles occasionally, and didn't move forward at any great pace, but the interactions between the characters was engaging.Coppola's segment was easily the worst of the three. Silly and pointless. It feels like it was made for kids, which, if it was, is starkly out of place with the clearly adult-orientated Scorsese and Allen portions. And even kids will probably find it silly and boring...Woody Allen's piece was the pick of the bunch. It displays Allen's sublimely clever, dry wit plus adds a large dollop of the ridiculous. Very funny at times with a twist that is quite bizarre. Nice- bizarre, though it does border on the silly.7/10s for the Allen and Scorsese portions, 3/10 for Coppola.

New York Stories is so uneven that not only is it impossible to refer to it as one movie, it's impossible to treat it as a coherent anthology. Martin Scorsese's 'Life Lessons' is a interesting little drama piece, following After Hours and The King of Comedy in Marty's tackling less-obvious themes. The writing is uneven, but tremendous performances by Nolte and Arquette make it work. 4 stars.Coppola's 'Life Without Zoe' is ridiculously bad on each and every level, from the acting and writing to the ludicrous theme song. Unlike many, I don't think the blame lies entirely with Sofia Coppola, Francis's directorial work is sub-par here. 1 star.'Oedipus Wrecks' is, by itself, enough to make this essential viewing for Woody Allen fans at least, as it's classic Allen and possibly one of his finest works. Mae Questel (of Betty Boop and Popeye fame) is brilliant as Allen's mother. 5 stars.So, the only fair way to rate New York Stories is with a completely objective average, which comes in at 3.33 stars. If at all possible, watch the first and third segment and completely skip the second, and you'll get an enjoyable and not-too-long double feature.

New York Stories (1989) consists of three shorts with the central theme being New York City.It's directors are Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and Woody Allen.From that trio you could expect something better, but the result is very mediocre.The first story is Scorsese's Life Lessons, loosely based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Gambler.It tells about the relationship between a painter called Lionel Dobie and Paulette, his apprentice and former lover.The second story is Life Without Zoë by Coppola.It's about a rich schoolgirl.Allen's story is Oedipus Wrecks.It tells about a Jewish New York lawyer, who has problems with his mother.She doesn't like her son's fiancé Lisa, and the mother starts hovering above the city and telling embarrassing stories of her son.The actor list looks great.Nick Nolte is Lionel.Rosanna Arquette plays Paulette.Steve Buscemi is Gregory Stark.Illeana Douglas is Paulette's Friend.Deborah Harry is Girl at Blind Alley.Heather McComb is Zoë.Giancarlo Giannini is her father and Talia Shire the mother.Holly Marie Combs is Costume Party Guest.Adrien Brody appears in his first film role as Mel.Woody Allen is Sheldon.Mia Farrow is Lisa.Mae Questel plays the mother.Julie Kavner portrays Treva.Larry David is Theater Manager.Kirsten Dunst is Lisa's Daughter.Mike Starr is Hardhat.From the three I liked Scorsese's the best.Nick Nolte's performance was intense.I also liked Allen's work.The magic show scene was funny, after which the mother disappeared.Coppola's was the weakest of the three.This is worth seeing, even though I expected something better.

New York Stories is another anthology film that I was suckered into because of the credentials. Other anthology films that I've seen, like Four Rooms, have not been very good despite the amazing credentials. I haven't been a fan of most movies with more than one director, hence more than one vision thus many colliding like an orchestra playing unharmonious notes. New York Stories is satisfactory however, eve if its mood swings leave one feeling many different ways about it. You'll feel stimulated, yet strangely unfulfilled.Martin Scorsese's segment, Life Lessons, is very melodramatic in that hardened, grungy way of his. Nolte gives a wonderful performance, very intense, and Arquette is very realistic and effective. Scorsese employs his usual machine gun multi-genre soundtrack and plunging, stylistically passionate and energetic cinematography. His segment says something very profound and important about the human characteristic of selfishness and how much more abundant it is in ourselves than we care to accept.Then comes Francis Ford Coppola's segment, Life Without Zoe. Arg. The acting, despite the leniency one may generously give child actors, is awful. Heather McComb did in fact fill out very very nicely when she grew up, but that does not excuse her very scripted performance here. She's the least of the cast's problems, though. Everyone sounds like the salesmen on the used car commercials. The story is something quite silly. Perhaps it would be fine if it were its own film, but Coppola had to know that he was being teamed with Scorsese, his fellow creator of quintessential Mafia cinema, and Woody Allen, the prolific source of mature and sophisticated comedies about sex and relationships. Did he submit this segment for shock value? I guess so. Well, it worked. I don't understand why Coppola works with kids. His daughter Sophia, who at age 18 here co-wrote the script and designed the costumes, did in fact go on to become a fine director herself, but did he not notice his pattern after awhile? He makes The Conversation, the Godfather films, and Apocalypse Now, and we think he's found his niche. Then he starts making movies like this, following up with films like Jack with Robin Williams.Woody Allen's segment saves the film. I suppose this is one way anthology movies are interesting. In a single feature-length narrative film, when it takes a plunge in the middle, it can't really be saved in the end, especially if it was as bad as Coppola's segment. In an anthology, if the middle of the movie is terrible, you still have the end to look forward to. This is the case in New York Stories, because Woody Allen's segment, Oedipus Wrecks, the final third of the movie, is hilarious. It's one of the funniest satires he's ever done of the Jewish Brooklynite's culture. It's goofy in a subtle way, and fascinatingly surreal the way a lot of Allen's best and most creative work is. Actually, Oedipus Wrecks is perhaps the only one of the three parts that actually clearly represents a hue of New York's culture. Scorsese's part didn't represent New York as much as it represented the emotional tempests of an artist and happened to take place in the meatpacking district. Coppola's mid-section represented the lives of wealthy children whose lives are so free that they live practically like very spoiled and gossipy adults, but to such an outlandish degree of family-oriented fantasy that it's not at all credible. Woody Allen firmly focuses upon his division of New York culture. And by the by, it's a very pleasant surprise to see a younger Larry David, pre-Seinfeld and pre-Curb Your Enthusiasm, in a bit role in Oedipus Wrecks.Whatever was going through Coppola's mind, it's because of him that New York Stories can be described as a film in the shape of a circular saw. It's on one level, then takes a ninety- degree plunge to a different level, then again with the third segment it takes a ninety-degree ascension to the precise level it was at before.