A Rainy Day in New York

Separating the artist from their art becomes critical while watching A Rainy Day in New York, a breezy and bittersweet Woody Allen comedy that would be forgettable outside of the scandalous, coincidentally timed headlines about alleged improprieties in the venerable filmmaker’s personal life.

As for the film itself, more than just the setting feels customary. As with many of his more recent works, he’s indulging in variations of themes he’s explored with more depth and complexity in the past.

Allen’s screenplay muses on romance and commitment, the nature of relationships, insecurities, and wandering eyes — this time through the eyes of angst-ridden millennials. It focuses on a familiar mix of well-to-do academics, creatives, and intellectuals in a fantasized version of contemporary Manhattan.

Specifically, Gatsby (Timothee Chalamet) is an honors student at a posh upstate college eager to spend a weekend in the city with his new girlfriend, Ashleigh (Elle Fanning), while she’s on assignment interviewing a director (Liev Schreiber) for the school paper.

Instead of sharing the experience, however, they become separated by inclement weather and outrageous circumstances. Gatsby meets an old friend and agrees to become an extra in a film alongside a young starlet (Selena Gomez). Ashleigh winds up frantically searching for her subject after his mental breakdown, giving her a taste of the celebrity lifestyle through intimate encounters with an esteemed screenwriter (Jude Law) and a Hollywood star (Diego Luna).

Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name) again showcases his versatility, proving a nice creative match in channeling Allen’s self-reflexive neuroses. Among his voiceover musings: “What is it about older men that seems to appeal to women?”

The story is driven by coincidences and exaggerations to a slightly annoying degree. It’s a world where ordinary people wander the streets and get swept up by movie stars, and famous people spill their guts unsolicited to student journalists they’ve never met.

Such detachment from reality diminishes the emotional impact, although it’s mildly amusing if you don’t bother scrutinizing the logic.

For the most part, A Rainy Day in New York is charming but slight, as the dialogue frequently zings with wit and humor but doesn’t add up to much in the end. This trip back home finds Allen in his creative comfort zone, yet simply spinning his wheels.

Rated PG-13, 92 minutes.