New York City Serenade

With three directorial efforts under his belt, and a fourth one on the way, from the looks of it, actor Frank Whaley seems to love to explore the ideas of good people making bad decisions in situations where they are simply trying to do the right thing. In his directorial debut Joe The King, Whaley focused on a young adolescent, who had been emotionally neglected and physically abused by both his parents, but carried an undying love for them, so much so that he stole and deceived others in order to better off their situation in a surprisingly captivating take on the idea of an anti-hero. In his sophomore directing effort, The Jimmy Show, we saw Whaley play a man struggling to maintain a marriage, hold down a job, raise a child, and take care of his elderly grandmother, all the while trying to carry out a standup comedy career when he wasn't just not funny but wholly depressing and upsetting.

Whaley's latest film, New York City Serenade, is a film that catches one off guard, allegedly masquerading as a frothy, incredulous romantic comedy but existing as a thoughtful and realistic iteration of two lifelong best friends realizing that they are each others dead-weight in the middle of a potential break for one of them. The film stars Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Chris Klein, two actors we never really got to see in captivating roles until now. Prinze, Jr. stars as Owen, an aspiring filmmaker who's short film has just been nominated for an award at a small film festival. Owen agrees to take his longtime girlfriend and now fiancée Lynn (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) to the festival as his sole guest, which will be held in Los Angeles. However, when Owen listens to his longtime buddy - the heavy drinking Ray (Chris Klein), who plays in a band - and goes to a party, cutting his movie-date short with Lynn, he winds up cheating with a woman at the party, leading Lynn to break up with him just before the festival.

Ray tags along on the trip from New York City to Los Angeles, much to the dismay of Owen, who wants to be left alone. The idea of both men being dead weight to each other comes in when we see that all Owen wants to do is have a quiet evening, which is impossible with Ray, who slugs cheap vodka shooters endlessly, and we see all Ray wants to do is be belligerent and disrupt the consistency of a formal event. Ray winds up impersonating the son of director Wallace Shawn, and gets the two a lavish suite at The Four Seasons, leading Owen to recognize that this friendship and his own career will not thrive if both kept around and that one needs to be terminated.

Prinze, Jr. and Klein carry on a great chemistry in this film, and their characters are incredibly similar to the likes of Dante and Randal from Kevin Smith's Clerks, whereas each character is flawed or burdened by an unlikable characteristic in a pretty significant way, but we still can't help but root for them, or at least find them interesting in some way. While Owen's actions are pretty offputting, and nearly everything Ray does is in poor taste and contemptible, there's a certain beautiful realism in their conversations, biting relatability in their friendship, and true honesty in the way they communicate and vent their problems to each other, which will undoubtedly remind people of that friend they have in their life - the one that means well, is fun to have around for a while, but also does things that are truly unforgivable and grounds for termination on someone's metaphorical friends list.

There's the relatability, and Whaley's human interest that makes New York City Serenade surpass any preconceived clichés it could've had under its belt. Whaley, who makes a cameo himself and allows a poster of his preceding film to be used in a key scene, if you pay close enough attention, clearly has a fondness for characters burdened or flawed in serious ways, making them the protagonists of each of his first three directorial efforts. This allows for a sense of reality to buoy the picture, rather than a ridiculous and frothy sense of romanticism or contrived relationships. At times, Prinze, Jr. and Klein's relationships tread so close to real life they cause an abrupt sense of pain.

New York City Serenade may find criticism for profiling two rather contemptible characters, but in the end, everyone is contemptible in their own way, and the fact that Whaley allows his characters to lay their cards out on the table from the start, showing some of their worst traits (Owen's whiny attitude and momentary infidelity and Ray's obnoxiousness and complete lack of sympathy or empathy towards anyone) to be seen deserves some credit, especially considering he takes two good-looking, male actors - one of them known for their pretty boy roles - and makes their characters' personalities and quirks ugly and noticeable. After three thoroughly commendable films, I demand Whaley writer and direct more films this instant.

Starring: Freddie Prinze, Jr., Chris Klein, and Jamie-Lynn Sigler.

This film stars two of the most appealing young men in movies today - Chris Klein and Freddie Prinze Jr. and the director takes every opportunity to focus on their charm and good looks making the film a must see. I can just imagine the approach the director used when he pitched the script to the stars: "It seems that every time there are two good looking guys in a film they end up in bed together - well, it's about time we showed two hunks who are really close yet they never cross the line to bed each other down. I really think two handsome straight guys can stay straight rather than straying and that's what I want to say in this film." And he does. He clearly shows how much affection and love there is between the two male leads but he never compromises their straightness by subjecting them to intimacy which gives the film a very refreshing approach but also a kind of truth that best buds know about.

Owen is an aspiring filmmaker who has been nominated for an award for one of his films. He works in the film industry, developing photos, and he doesn't seem to be that good at it. His friend Ray, who has an office job (this week), appeared in the film and plays drums in a rock band. He has a daughter Francie who lives with Ray's ex, who has a new man. Ray also has a drinking problem and is quite immature.

Owen is engaged to Lynn. Together, they attend a film with French subtitles together. She thoroughly enjoys it; he nearly falls asleep. Afterward they meet her French literature professor Noam who also really liked the film.

Then Owen and Lynn catch the end of the performance of Ray's band. Afterward, Ray claims to need help with his drums, and Lynn goes on home. The truth is that Ray wants Owen to go to Bertrand's party, where there are girls. And Rachel, one of those girls, seduces Owen while Ray strikes out with the others. Then Bertrand figures out he doesn't know Owen or Ray and certainly didn't invite them, and they are thrown out.

Ray has a number of problems. He supposedly can't hold a job, and his ex is dissatisfied with the amount of time he spends with his daughter, though Ray does seem pleasant to Francie. Did I mention he drinks?

Owen, Ray and several other guys get called to serve as pallbearers at the funeral of Matt's father in New Jersey. The funeral is depressing, though the ride to and from the funeral seems like "American Pie" or one of those other disgusting buddy movies.

While Owen is out of town, Lynn happens to meet Rachel and finds out the truth about her and Owen. Lynn wants to break up.

So Owen and Ray go to the festival where Owen hopes to pick up an award. When they arrive, they are supposed to go to the airport motel, but Ray sees Wallace Shawn and talks to him. He finds out Shawn is staying at the Four Seasons, and after conning the driver to take them there, Ray overhears that Shawn's son will be late. He convinces the hotel clerk he is Shawn's son and gets him and Owen a nice room and orders plenty of food, and drinks as much as possible. Then the guys attend the festival. One wacko, whose name I don't remember, really liked Owen's film and made Owen look like he would have potential, but his lines are so laughably ridiculous that I don't think he will be able to further Owen's career.

So what's going to happen? Will Owen and Lynn straighten things out? Will Ray ever fix his messed-up life? Will the two guys succeed with their hotel scam?

This film was enjoyable enough, at least part of the time. I didn't care for some of the more racy scenes at the party. I was really surprised by the plain-vanilla TV-PG rating, because it certainly deserved more.

Chris Klein was fun, especially when he was trying to con people. At work, he told a co-worker (possibly a boss) how beautiful she was. He couldn't possibly have meant physically, because the movie had many better-looking girls. Of course, the hotel scam was the best part, and Wallace Shawn was starting to get annoyed or possibly scared by his stalker.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler was pleasant enough, and quite pretty. In fact, she was gorgeous in one scene where she decided to let the machine pick up when the phone rang.

And Freddie Prinze Jr. did a capable job as well.

One standout performer was Frank Whaley, who also wrote and directed, as the quirky driver who was supposed to take the guys to the motel but instead had to go to the Four Seasons.

Sophie Nyweide also shined as Ray's little girl, mainly late in the movie.

I had a good time. That's what's important.

not an original story. not artistic revelations. only a film about small, ordinaries things. about friendship and grow up, relations, happiness. superficial in the first part, touching in the second. short, a film about pure life. not surprising. but nice. and real interesting, first for the performance of Chris Klein who reflects in wise manner the symptoms of Peter Pan Syndrome.and this is the basic virtue of a film about almost nothing , who could be defined as only another from its genre. film about the purpose of life, it has the strange art to redefine old known things . and the result becomes, after the confusion , a decent work.

This is a fantastic movie. Frank Whaley, whom I love as an actor, wrote and directed this perfect little indie film and it is interesting and endearing from beginning to end. Chris Klein gives an amazing performance as the alcoholic best friend-bad influence, to a hapless lovelorn Freddie Prinz Jr. Theirs is a friendship based on nothing good and the fuse is lit. It's a familiar relationship. One of them takes everything seriously. The other takes nothing seriously. And both are prone to bad choices.

How the story is framed and delivered to the audience is what makes this film so special and that's where Frank Whaley comes in. He knows this story and knows how to tell it. Your heart can't help but go out to these two jerks bumbling their way through life and leaving a swath of misery and regret in their wake. Whaley chooses some interesting camera angles with the two leads. A couple times he has them in the frame, in two dimensional profile, in fairly serious scenes, delivering their lines in the, visually, flattest possible way. I didn't understand the choice, but I thought it was interesting, and it made an impression.

Frank Whaley has to be commended for a great script, deft directing, and a funny cameo as an overworked, and most likely underpaid, "limo" driver. However, Chris Klein steals the show as the drunk screwup with a huge personality. He has perfect pitch as an actor and it's on full display here.

I'm not sure why this movie flew so low under the radar. It's too good to have such a low rating here and deserves better. See it. You won't be sorry.