Review No.131: 2 Days in New York

Onto something a bit quirkier now as we head to New York with Julie Delpy for the follow-up for her 2007 directorial debut 2 Days in Paris. In the wildly imaginatively titled 2 Days in New York Delpy's Marion and her son now live with her new boyfriend Mingus, played by Chris Rock, and is happy that is until her family descend. As we saw in 2 Days in Paris, Marion doesn't have a brilliant relationship with her sister Rose and things don't seem to have got much better with the two bickering in fairly public rows throughout the film. Marion's former lover Manu, who claims do have given her her first orgasm, is now with Rose however it is never really revealed how close their relationship is though they do get down and dirty with an electric toothbrush at one point. Joining Manu and Rose is the girls' father Jeannot, played by Delpy's real life father Albert, he is a good man but struggles with the language barrier while in edition is mourning the death of his late wife. The film is also based around the fact that Marion has a gallery opening in which her collection, which is essentially photographs of ex-boyfriends asleep, is being revealed to the general public and at the same time she will be selling her soul. The whole thing soon descends into a comedy of errors including some very public pot smoking, a lie about a terminal disease, a limousine being keyed and a cameo from Vincent Gallo building up to a rather beautiful final scene.

When I first saw Delpy's 2 Days in Paris I didn't know quite what to think of it straight away however I decided that she was going for a sort of Woody Allen vibe which is even more evident in the sequel know we're actually in New York. Marion and Mengus represent the average hipster couple she with her art gallery openings and he with his radio show one would imagine they travel to the trendiest clubs and know only the coolest people despite the fact that they are both single parents. That's why it's so amusing when Marion's family come to call as they are the furthest thing away from cool that you could get and right from the off, when Albert is detained by customs for taking cheese ito a foreign country, you know things aren't going to run smoothly. For me I felt the jokes were a little broader than in the first film however 2 Days in New York seemed to be more about growing up and setting a good example for your children. Delpy is great in the lead role however it is Chris Rock who really impresses playing what is essentially the straight role he's the most responsible adult character on screen and often is the voice of reason apart of course from when he's horny. I honestly didn't think that Rock could do anything other than broad comedy or voicing interesting documentaries about womens' hair. For me the most sympathetic character is Albert a large, jolly man who is coping with deep sadness but ultimately is there for his family members. I don't think 2 Days in New York will be everybody's cup of tea as the characters tend to grate occasionally and the humour is a little broad in places however Delpy has really established herself as a quirky directorial voice and I would say that this film is another great example of just how good she can be.

Verdict: Very funny with some great central performances 2 Days in New York is essentially a quirky farce which means not all the jokes and some of the humour is broad but overall I really enjoyed it so I will award it 7.5/10