Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Typical, predictable, seen-it-all-before story about a guy who gets involved with a terminally-ill girl.Richard Gere is supposed to be Mr. Wonderful in this "Love Story" rip-off with Winona Ryder as the sick chick. Many ideas from the latter movie are regurgitated here including the ice rink and hospital deathbed scenes.Things stay safe and sterile from the first hour of 'charming' date sequences, like the moment when a giggling Winona puts on one of the 'hats' she made (it looks like a bent-up coat hanger), all the way to the end of this Joan Chen-directed date flick when Winnie faints for the twentieth time, sparking Dick to once again exclaim another exasperated "Jeeeez!".Lame. Stick with "Love Story" (1970).

"Autumn in New York" is a 2000 film from MGM. It is a love story and is currently available on NetFlix Instant Download Streaming. The director is Joan Chen. And the writer is Allison Burnett. The actors include Richard Gere, Winona Ryder, Anthony LaPaglia, Elaine Stritch, Vera Famiga, Shery Stringfield, Jill Hennessy, J.K. Simmons, Sam Trammell, Mary Beth Hurt, Kali Rocha, Steven Randazzo, Toby Poser, George Spielvogel III, Ranjit Chowdry, Audrey Quock, Tawny Cypress, Gabriel Portuondo, Laurent Schwaar, Patrick Price, Ted Koch, Alvin H. Enbender, Daniella Van Graas, Rachel Nichols, Steven Ravid, Ron Emanuel, Dan Camins and John Guidera. The story revolves around the two main characters played by Richard Gere and Wynona Ryder. He is too old for her and she is dying from a cardiac tumor. They stare at one another for what seems like hours. So I only was able to give it 4 stars. Dale Haufrect

Will Keane (Richard Gere) is a womanizing restaurateur on the cover of a magazine. Charlotte Fielding (Winona Ryder) has her 22th birthday party at his restaurant. She makes weird little hats. Her grandmother (Elaine Stritch) knows him as an old friend of her mom. He starts flirting with her and maneuvers her to a date. After their first night together, he tells her that he can offer her nothing, and she tells him that she has a terminal heart tumor. Meanwhile there is a mystery woman Lisa Tyler (Vera Farmiga) around.There is a high ick factor especially since the movie hints at him and her mother having a thing in the past. She's playing a giggly little girl. She's literally giggling about him dancing with her mother. He's the weaselly Don Juan type. She's so young that she can't see that he was just trying to seduce her that first time around. She's so clueless that she's shocked by her mother's past with him. It's not romantic. It's just sleazy. Next to Gere, Winona Ryder is like a fawning teenager. And why do they have to keep talking about her mother? I understand that there is a May to December romance that gets turned upside down. It's not as poetic as the movie supposes. The chemistry is all wrong. If she doesn't start off as terminal, then it might make the movie more poetic. The dialog is fairly weak and there is limited tension in the story. I don't know what drives the movie if we rule out happily ever after right off the bat.

Nor could they have cast anybody better than Elaine Stritch.Beautiful in every way -- the cinematography, the music, the patience of the direction. You could feel the ease Gere and Ryder felt. They were allowed their best selves. The portrayal was wholly believable. There was exquisite nuance and not an iota of artifice, not even one.This was an experience in true life portrayal; genuine, and somehow dug down to where we all really live, especially Gere's transformation, Ryder's delicacy in one particular scene, and Stritch's hallmark capacity for authenticity.The actor playing Gere's best friend was just as commendable, the actress playing the daughter, and the feel about the medical rush. I haven't checked yet who did the casting or cinematography or music or direction, but this movie is put together with world-class people.There is an element of deep reality throughout that rings true.