Review: "New York" collection is mixed bag

"New York, I Love You," the second in an intended series of omnibus films ("Paris, Je T'Aime" was the first) called Cities of Love, is a collection of 11 shorts and one wrap-around segment, each directed by a different filmmaker in two days, that interweaves the backdrop of New York City into some sort of anecdote dealing with love.

As always with short-story collections, the result is a mixed bag, but unlike "Paris Je T'Aime," the duds outnumber the winners this time. Part of the reason is that while the roster of directors in Paris included Alfonso Cuaron, Alexander Payne, the Coen brothers and Gus Van Sant, the filmmakers behind "New York" generally skew younger and less experienced -- and the stories more trivial and banal.

Surprisingly, the high note is struck by Brett Ratner, whose Hollywood career ("Red Dragon," "X-Men: The Last Stand") has not always been celebrated by critics. His tale about a young man (Anton Yelchin) who agrees to take the daughter of his pharmacist (James Caan) to the prom sight-unseen results in a funny and surprising story perfectly suited to the confines of a short narrative.

Also memorable is Yvan Attal's ditty about two strangers (Ethan Hawke and Maggie Q) who strike up a conversation while smoking a cigarette outside a restaurant, a scenario later reprised by another pair of diners (Chris Cooper and Robin Wright Penn) who step outside for a nicotine fix. That premise will be familiar to any smoker who has ever lived in New York, and Attal follows both anecdotes to their not-quite-expected resolutions.

A lot of the shorts in "New York, I Love You" encapsulate the benefits that make living in the harsh city so worthwhile, from the way in which you are forced to interact with different cultures on a daily basis, to how even a minor random encounter can lead to life-changing consequences.

But too many are either obvious to the point of boredom -- like Mira Nair's riff on the unexpected bond between an Indian diamond vendor (Irrfan Khan) and a Hasidic Jew (Natalie Portman) about to wed -- or precious to the point of irrelevance, like Jiang Wen's look at a thief (Hayden Christensen) who meets his match (Andy Garcia) while courting a young woman. Others are just plain bad.

The structure guarantees that if you don't like the movie you're watching, a new one will begin just a few minutes later. But the city can only dash your hopes so many times before you decide to move back to Kansas or Nevada -- anywhere but here.