A NEW YORK WINTER’S TALE

SYNOPSIS –Two star crossed lovers must fight across time to be with each other There are few things more frustrating than seeing a promising concept poorly executed, so it is with a New York Winter’s tale. The set up is interesting, two lives being wrestled over by other worldly fates, is an intriguing one. Unfortunately the execution not only fails to live up to its premise but manages to create good deal of unintentional humour. Most of these problems boil down to the dialogue which could charitably be described as a ‘little off’ but might more accurately be called ‘rejected Disney dialogue’. You’re tempted to praise the performers for delivering these lines, supposedly written by an adult, without bursting out laughing (maybe there should be an Oscar category for that). This is combined with a plot that simply throws things at us out of the blue one after another. Much like darts thrown at a dartboard, some of these ideas hit their target - but quite a few miss and hit the old guy standing by the bar in the ear. There’s simply no build up to events, we’re dropped right into the middle of the action (after a cringe worthy bad introductory monologue) and things just happen from there. It doesn’t help that, talented actor though he is, Colin Farrell reacts to events such as flying horses and talk of angels and destiny with what could best be described as mild surprise. He’s less ‘everyman hero’ than ‘random man running from one plot point to the next’. One person at least looks like he’s having fun and that’s Russell Crowe as the villainous Pearly, complete with an Oirish accent on loan from Craggy Island (you half expect the music from Riverdance to start when he gets going). I knew something wasn’t right when I started rooting for the bad guy half way through the film. FINAL VERDICT 3/10 And I fear that’s being generous.