26/01/2012

When she took to the stage ahead of the world premiere of her romantic comedy 2 Days in New York [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in Sundance, Julie Delpy joked that she had made this sequel to 2 Days in Paris [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christophe Mazodier
interview: Julie Delpy
film profile] because the studios didn’t give her a chance to do something bigger like The Bourne Identity.

Instead, it seems that she is getting a chance to work on her own 'identity' as an independent filmmaker, without studious' interference.

Here, she is making major headway towards becoming the female equivalent of Woody Allen, with this romantic comedy that's set in the Big Apple. The audience was laughing out loud for much of the 90-minute feature, in which photographer Marion’s (Delpy) French family visits her and her boyfriend Mingus, a radio host, played by Chris Rock.

There is a wide range of curious characters, including her sister’s drug-dealing boyfriend and her sister herself, who wanders the apartment half naked, attracting the attention of the neighbours who are trying to make good after Marion declares that she has a brain tumour to stop their eviction threats.

There is also the eccentric father who lives in his own world, and her patient boyfriend, Mingus and, an hour into this family romp, Mingus finally says that he has had enough, and his request to boot out the family doesn’t come before there have been some fun family day trips to, for example, the gym.

Delpy plays a lot with cultural stereotyping but in a clever way, which gets lots of laughs. There are also several amusing moments arising from the couple's modern-day relationship, which includes two children from previous marriages.

One night, the smallest of the children says “Night fake daddy,” to Mingus, as he is not the child's father.

The film was very funny. A few more shots of Manhattan would have been a great addition - Delpy said at the post-screening press conference that she would be making some minor changes to the film based on feedback at the festival, but this is a valiant effort that is sure to be appreciated by her fanbase and beyond.