Amor à Segunda Vista

Izzy (Amy Irving) is a talented bookstore employee in New York City. Although it is a low paying position, she rubs elbows with some of the finest writers in the country, by setting up book talks. Despite her success, she is in her thirties and is not married. Izzy is fine with this but her Jewish grandmother is appalled that her sweet relative does not have a husband. Therefore, grandmother arranges for a matchmaker to search out some candidates for Izzy. The first one is a pickle vendor! What was grandma thinking?

This film, set partly in an old, traditional Jewish neighborhood in Manhattan, is a movie fan's delight. Irving, charming and pretty, sails right through her role with absolute believability. The rest of the cast is just perfect, including an early role for David Hyde Pierce. What a wonder, also, to get a glimpse of a preserved neighborhood, where time moves slowly. Those who adore romantic comedies must not put a viewing of this movie off any longer. Try catching it at the library or video store today.

I found this movie years after it was out ... a real classic now for me. The characters are genuine ( I love Bubbie! )and very interesting. The music is a treat as well as I found myself singing to it, a montage of 80's music. The movie takes a few jabs at the narcissistic quirks of the artistic world and conflicting egos. There is a careful story plot around the conflict of "fame" versus "character" and Amy Irving's character slowly sees past the hype and notes the person. The matchmaker is a hoot! and makes a good compliment to the Grandmother. I was disappointed to see that this was the only movie for Bubbie (Reizl Bozyk) because she really is the glue that keeps the story going. Peter Riegert makes an excellent pickle man! One movie I can watch over and over!

This is my favorite movie of all time with an unbelievable cast of great character actors. I remember a New York reviewer at the time calling Amy Irving's performance "lukewarm" and I could not disagree more. Irving's performance and character epitomize the thirty-something single New York working woman trying to move up in the world. Irving's character is completely enraptured by the experience of being the book manager of a very prestigious uptown neighborhood book store and falls for the good-looking, European writer who is completely enraptured with himself! Riegert is the nice "pickleman" who any girl knows would make a great husband but the fireworks just don't go off for the girl. Any woman can definitely relate to the dilemma of being attracted to the charming, good-looking rogue but when you get right down to it, it is the everyday "picklemen" who stay true and truly make the world go round.

And I must say that this film captures the city better than any movie I have yet to see complete with crazy singing woman in crowded narrow hot dog joint, midage man struggling to play handball in local park, elderly women learning self-defense at community Y. Classic New York stuff! I could go on and on but do note far out performances by Sylvia Miles as the tacky matchmaker and Rosemary Harris, the great English actress, in a cameo near the end.

It might be ten years since last I saw Crossing Delancey. We wandered into the video store tonight and were more than desperate to find just one movie we were willing to take a chance on, and I spotted this gem.

Seriously: this one ages well, like a good wine. It's got only better - by that I mean that after time, one picks up the subtleties even more.

It's just sensational.

The other movie we rented is a Disney action flick. We're waiting to put it in, because we know we are going to be disappointed after this, and we want to savour it a little while more.

That's about the best you can say about any movie.

10 out of 10.

Funny, but most of the comments here are raving about the movie, yet somehow

it only scored 6.7 stars at the time of this posting. To me, Crossing Delancey is one of the best romantic comedies ever made and ranks highly among my favorite movies in general.

Reizl Bozyk's performance as Bubbie Kantor is priceless. Amy Irving and Peter Riegert have amazing chemistry and all of the characters are very well defined and well portrayed, although I think the matchmaker was just a tad over-the-top, even for a yenta. But that's okay, The storyline is paced just right - a great flick to do popcorn by.

Though I would ordinarily give it an 8.5, I rated it 10 stars to bring the average closer to what the reviews (and my personal opinion) reflect.