Sidewalks of New York

The chatty, romantic roundelay takes a lighthearted look at the misadventures of six in the city.

Burns' movie shows a Woody.esque affection for a certain slice of New York and its denizens (with the angst and neuroses quieted down a notch or two).

Isn't much more than a student film made by a talented amateur who's in over his head. Burns has a decent eye and a breezy sense of pace, and he'll make better movies if he remembers where he came from.

Wears out its welcome fast because of its artistic pretensions and self-absorbed characters. You'd be better off renting "Manhattan" instead.

Despite a synthetic optimism in the script, the movie's pervasive bleakness is relieved only by some bright performances.

Burns, who made a career out of his mildly charming Irish-American rogue persona, has, with his latest and fourth feature, finally sloughed off the remaining traces of that charm, along with, apparently, the vestiges of a personality.

Achieves inadvertent pathos via its own obscene irrelevance.