The Only Living Boy in New York (2017) Reviews

• The story has depth, poignancy and surprise which will grab hold you and won't let go throughout the film.

  mblumenfield-024272017-08-01

  This movie has some shades of a Woody Allen film in its character studies of people and in capturing the atmosphere of Manhattan. It examines family and sexual relationships between a husband and wife as well as extramarital love and sex. It looks at a young man's struggle with his sexual and romantic feelings. This is a psychological drama that highlights guilt, jealousy and even an important aspect of the oedipal complex. It is complicated and heavy stuff and it all flows from the pen of screenwriter Allen Loeb, who had written several successful movies before this earlier script ultimately came to fruition. This didn't happen until Marc Webb became attached to it as director and a terrific ensemble cast was put together which includes Jeff Bridges, Pierce Brosnan, Cynthia Nixon, Kiersey Clemons and Kate Beckinsale. However, the character who ties the plot together is relative newcomer, Callum Turner, who plays Thomas, the 25-year-old son who ultimately makes deep seated discoveries about himself and each of his parents before he can move on with his life. This is the type of movie that will capture your attention and make you ponder each character's motivation. The story has depth, poignancy and surprises which will grab hold you and won't let go throughout the film. It certainly kept us thinking and talking as we left the theater. (2017) – Scheduled for release August 11th. FilmRap.net

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• A Love Letter to Being a Twenty-Something Artist in New York City

  michaeljcummings2018-09-16

  This is a unique little movie and has very limited appeal...of which I am part of the limit...hence the 8 out of 10. Its content is similar to both The Squid and the Whale (although not as richly realized) as well as The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (but less self-conscious). Without relying on period pop music, it manages to capture a very specific moment in New York City...back when living in the lower east side was considered radical and right before the Internet and mobile and 9/11 changed everything. At least that is the way it felt. There is more contemporary technology evident...but it felt added on. The story follows a handful of characters, none of whom are particularly sympathetic and all of whom occupy rarefied terrain, either via their education, career, creativity, or family name. Callum Turner-in the lead- had the most clearly drawn role and made the character endearing and not arrogant. He is interesting physically, too...at times looking like Keith Gordon, at others like Richard Gere. Other pluses: its running time is under 90 minutes and it uses some exceptional New York City locations (such as the Brooklyn Museum and the Oyster Bar). Finally, this is really a movie about fathers and sons (and mentors)-a very under-mined topic in film. The not so good news? The aforementioned time stamp issues...when does this film take place? There are clues but they do not add up under scrutiny. Or is it supposed to take place within the "idea" of a different era? I don't know but they should have gone full late 80s/early 90s period piece. More importantly, the characters are too broadly drawn...and the actors work with what they have. Brosnan, Nixon, Bridges, Clemons, and Beckinsale all do their best with the material they have, rarely share scenes together, and all seem to be unclear as to whether they are in a comedy or a drama. Meanwhile, it occupies some space in between comedy and drama... It's a small movie that has some very big cinematic moments, largely due to the exquisite cinematography by Stuart Dryburgh: a Londoner who clearly loves New York City.

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• An unexpected and truly satisfying night at the movies.

  teakyew2017-08-19

  Zounds! Thank heaven I didn't see another site's 31% rating before I went to a WGA screening of "The Only Living Boy In New York," because I might have given it a pass. I LOVED it! I'd give it a 99.9% rating (after all, nobody's perfect). What a joy. Allan Loeb's intelligent and serious script is liberally sprinkled with laugh-out-loud lines and Marc Webb's masterfully fluid direction is stunning. Like watching a French film… I almost expected subtitles. Webb made love to New York as if it was Paris. Flawless casting, Jeff Bridges is brilliant. Stellar performances all-round. Wonderful title sequence. And that fantastic sound track—thrilling! See for yourself.

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• Retro French Filmmaking With A Modern American Flavor

  Obi_Bamm_Karaoke2017-08-11

  I have often said that we spend our twenties trying to figure it all out, and then when we hit our thirties we realize that all we have to do is just live our lives. However, getting through that third decade of living to get there tends to be simply a roller-coaster of emotion. Between trying to break the mold of being seen as a child and trying to have the respect of a living, working, independent adult that may not be completely there yet is such fertile ground for storytelling that Hollywood sits in that pocket of life quite a bit. Marc Webb, famous music video director and the man who brought us "(500) Days of Summer" and both "The Amazing Spider-Man" films (both of which I enjoyed, so judge me if you will) takes his crack at a slice of this life with his latest film, "The Only Living Boy in New York". With a title taken from a Simon & Garfunkel song, Callum Turner is the central character here playing Thomas, a twenty-two-year-old living on his own on the Lower East Side as he is working toward being a writer. He also is dealing with a woman that he is mad for in Mimi (Kiersey Clemons), who may or may not feel the same way, a publisher father (Pierce Brosnan) who just wants him to have direction, and a mother (Cynthia Nixon) who is teetering on the edge of a breakdown. When he stumbles on the fact that his father is having an affair with one his co-workers, Johanna (Kate Beckinsale), it throws everything he knows into a tailspin with the only real anchor in his life being a mysterious old man who moves in across the hall from him (Jeff Bridges). Looking at screenwriter Allan Loeb's body of work, this film could be kind of everything he has worked on put in the proverbial blender, and what comes out of it is nothing short of satisfying. This is a very rich story told on multiple levels while keeping the main story moving in a way that all of the parts make the whole even better. Callum truly embraces the millennial part of him here, with that sense of entitlement as well as young adult angst that us old codgers would shake our fists at, but at the same time realizing that some of these traits may be a bit more universal than we choose to admit thus making the audience look at this time in their lives through a bit of different lenses. Beckinsale is as irresistible as ever in the role of the "other woman" who wants everyone to believe that she is simply footloose and fancy free but in her quiet moments is so much more, and there is also a great performance by Clemons, whose Mimi is a character that too many of us can identify having an association with in our lifetimes. Brosnan and Nixon, while having limited screen time, also do a serviceable job here to keep Thomas' path moving. And then, there's Jeff Bridges. Seriously, The Dude is THE DUDE here with all of his wisdom and just crushes it. I feel like everyone should have someone in their lives like his character of W.F. Gerald, and if that person just happens to be Jeff Bridges, that is just all the more awesome. This man is a master at owning his scenes while at the same time knowing that give-and-take that makes his costars shine in a way that is natural and absolutely a wonder to watch. Visually, I was very impressed with the style employed by Webb, which reminded me a lot of a '60s French film with a modern American sensibility. There is a tinge of Hitchcock-ian suspense involved as Thomas seeks to know more about the woman that has distracted his father's affections that really upped the cool vibe for me as I was watching the film. The tone here is right on point for the story, and the attention to detail shown by the crew translates beautifully. "The Only Living Boy in New York" is a film that although has an indie vibe is fully and totally aimed for a mass audience. There is something here for all parts of the movie going spectrum from the casual film goer to the more seasoned and detailed film fan. "Well told, well-acted, and beautifully shot" should be enough to get you there, so go!

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• Contemporary indie version of a Woody Allen movie combined with The Graduate

  akcenat2018-10-11

  Thomas Webb (Turner) is a spoiled rich millennial who is trying to figure out what to do with his life after college. While searching for life answers around mysterious neighbor (Bridges), he learns that his father (Brosnan) is cheating on his mother (Nixon) with his assistant (Beckinsale). "The Only Living Boy in New York" is a movie full of characters you would walk away from at a cocktail party, engaging in the flattest brand of smart banter imaginable. Turner is a very irritating person as Thomas, while film's main draw should be Bridges. He's a phenomenal actor, but his roles get too cliche, wasted and reduced to portraying a stereotypical cigar-toting old man who has a thing or two to tell the young ones. Brosnan is a surprising standout, his burst of anger and subsequent sadness during one pivotal scene conveying more years of back story in mere minutes. "The Only Living Boy in New York" have fantastic cast, looks good, but it's not particularly distinctive because it was playing safe in the end when It could be a little more daring and dangerous. In general, it is definitely an odd story with a twist, but I did enjoyed (most of) it. 7+/8- from 10.

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