听 
Edward Burns' films - from the excellent "The Brothers McMullen" to the disappointing Jennifer Aniston vehicle "She's the One" - have always seemed like warmed-up Woody Allen comedies.
Full of luckless lovers, broken-hearted romantics, and cynical flirts, they exist in a Manhattan inhabited by neurotic singles - a world in which everyone's looking for love, but nobody's sane enough to find it.
"Sidewalks of New York" is no exception. Charting the interlinked love lives of several denizens of the Big Apple, the story follows the ups and downs of these kids as they fall in and out of love with each other.
There's Tommy (played by Burns himself) who's suffering a confidence crisis after splitting up with his long-term girlfriend; Maria (Dawson), an Uptown teacher; Griffin (Tucci), a philandering dentist, and Annie (Graham), Griffin's put-upon wife.
The best characters, though, are the ones who don't get that much screen time, like Dennis Farina's aging lothario, Carpo. Full of advice on how to win women ("Spray some aftershave on your balls - they love it when the balls smell nice, lets them know you care"), and armed with an array of fantastic chat up lines ("Do you want to sit up on the porch with the pup, or run in the yard with the big dog?"), Carpo is a hilarious creation - brilliant enough to deserve a whole movie.
Sadly, Burns thinks his own character's storyline offers some profound truths about love and life (it doesn't) and so lets the primary characters overshadow some of the much better supporting players.
Yet, while it may not have anything new to say about love, life, or even New York, it's entertaining enough to keep you occupied while you're waiting for Woody to return to form.
