Pretty Good

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

A genuine Lost-Treasure for movie fans of Romantic-comedy = "Crossing Delancey" (circa1988) is authentically heartfelt, subtle & realistic in presentation and refreshingly free of cliché or artifice.  Directed by the abundantly gifted but perplexingly underrated Joan Micklin Silver who made the incredibly unique film about the early Jewish immigrant experience in NYC called "Hester-Street" With "Crossing Delancey" Micklin-Silver updates her chosen milieu to Late-1980's NYC = populated by an endlessly intriguing mix of old-World East-European culture inexorably transformed/transforming into the modern-assimilated artistic-intellectual enclave populated by ambitious but still deeply-sensitive Souls like the beautiful 'Isabelle Grossman' (portrayed by equally beautiful Amy Irving, in one of her finest film roles)*spoiler-alert* Isabelle's bubbie/Grandma 'Ida' (Reizl Bozyk with extensive Yiddish theater-background) is worried-sick that her granddaughter is still unmarried at the ripe old-age of 33, and possibly heading-down the path of permanent 'spinster-status' unless a pro-active action-plan & intervention is implemented immediately. Enter 'matchmaker' extraordinaire Hannah Mandlebaum (the absolutely indescribable Sylvia Miles) who finds Isabelle a match-made (perhaps fermented) in Heaven, with pickle entrepreneur Sam Posner (down-to-Earth, unpretentious Peter Riegert)Sam is most certainly an all-round 'good-guy' but Isabelle can't seem to reconcile the fact that her irrepressible 'dreams' both personally & professionally have up to now hovered amidst the rarefied-air of mingling with celebrated NYC intellectual literati and noteworthy authors.  Isabelle has spent much of her waking-hours endlessly hosting poetry-readings, book signings and other promotional events in which the literary-minded have flocked, and in fact Isabelle works directly for one of the oldest, most hallowed bookstores/ booksellers in NYC, affording her ample opportunity to meet & greet successful writers on a regular basis. One such individual that catches Isabelle's attention early on is the renowned poet-novelist Anton Maes (played by Jeroen Krabbé) who is married but seems utterly lonely & perpetually angst-ridden nonetheless.Isabelle's fascination with those gifted few who successfully apply pen-to-paper (while making a good living at it) most definitely leads her down a few blind-alleys. Not fully able to 'see' the 'pickle-man' as the promising long-term prospect that he may very well prove to be.  At one point Isabelle even sets the 'pickle-man' up with her outgoing garrulous friend Marylin Cohen (played by straight-talking Suzy Roche of the vocal-group the 'Roches'  who contributed a number of excellent songs for this movie!)Joan Micklin-Silver's "Crossing Delancey" reflects an authentic film and ultimately timeless-Tale (adapted by Susan Sandler from her original stage play of the same-name) about people searching for genuine meaning & authentic identity along with choosing (hopefully wisely) who they are willing to spend the rest of their natural lives with."Crossing-Delancey" is also most certainly a near perfect romantic-comedy that seems infused with boundless good-humor, great thespian performances and unpretentiously profound insights  =  reflecting a genuine 'Lost-treasure' and priceless re-discovery for movie fans particularly of the Romantic-comedy variety.

When Crossing Delancey was made the Lower East Side of Manhattan was changing rapidly. The Williamsburg Bridge approach started the change back in the early days of the last century. A midpoint might be the construction of the projects where Reizl Bozyk playing Amy Irving's grandmother still hangs on. Another point would be 1988 where Delancey Street, the heart of the Jewish neighborhood you now see Ms. Bozyk doing her shopping at a Korean grocer and picking up a few words in Korean to get by. Back in the day people like a young James Cagney picked up and was fluent in Yiddish.I'm sure enough of that rapidly changing area which now has Yuppies moving in is still visible. How many matchmakers like Sylvia Miles are still in business? I wager very few if any at all. Amy Irving is such a Yuppie, she's a literary agent but she has ties to the area through her grandmother whom she visits regularly. She's a thirty something who proclaims that she's in no rush to marry. That is almost sacrilege to Bozyk who puts Miles on her case immediately.Moving as she does with the literati Irving is not altogether thrilled with Peter Riegert who with his brother owns a pickle business on Delancey and Essex. But this is the movies and Riegert does gradually grow on her. Especially when she sees that a lot of whom Irving has looked up to turn out to be phonies.Reizl Bozyk who is a lighter version of Molly Picon and a graduate of the Yiddish Theater steals every scene she's in. I'm surprised she wasn't given Oscar consideration. She has some competition with Miles though, the original Yenta. Their scenes remind me of when we got together with my father's family. Some mention should be given Peter Riegert who is great as a plain down to earth guy most comfortable with himself. It's not the most glamorous of jobs, but pickles make him a good living, a steadier one than the people Irving hangs with. His idea of a good place to go is Yankee or Shea Stadium. I imagine he's middle aged now and with his family and the new Yankee Stadium or CitiField.The biggest star of Crossing Delancey is the neighborhood itself which could never be recreated on a Hollywood sound stage. Reason enough to see Crossing Delancey and enjoy the people who live and work there.

Crossing Delancey is simply an enjoyable movie. That is the best description of it.Amy Irving stars as Izzy, an unmarried Jewish woman living in New York City, working at a bookstore who is content with her life, rubbing elbows with famous writers and planning readings for their books. Her grandmother is less content, and hires a matchmaker to help find Izzy a husband. The matchmaker brings home Sam (Peter Reigert), a pickle seller who has admired Izzy for years, but never spoken with her.Izzy is at first very resistant to the matchmaking, and initially feels that Sam is beneath her. However, she comes to realize that Sam is the real thing.The performances are all around good in this movie. The story is sweet and original, and things just fall into place nicely. Definitely recommended.

If you come to this deadpan, soft touch romantic comedy with your expectations in check you might enjoy it's modest pleasures. Amy Irving is assured and winning in the lead; but there is a remote quality to the character we never quite warm to. When She realizes She is behaving real stupidly, we have been so far ahead of her for so long we don't quite buy it. For someone who loves language and books; She never has a great deal to say. The rest of the cast all do a fine job, as does folk rock legend Suzy Roche in her as of yet only movie. It is unfortunate Silver has not gotten a chance to do more; She has a real nice touch with comedy. This came through even in her minor "Big Girls Don't Cry." Along with Betty Thomas, She deserved more chances and better scripts.