<strong><span class="subhead">New York, I Love You</span></strong></p><p>**</p><p><strong>R (strong language, sexual content); 103 min.</strong></p><p>The title is <em>New York, I Love You</em>, and it’s a collection of shorts intended as one big love letter to the city and all the romance it has to offer. The result is a curiously bland hodgepodge — not terribly evocative of such a famous place and not all that inspiring in the connections it depicts.</p><p>Following 2007’s <em>Paris, je t’aime</em>, this is the second in a planned series of "Cities of Love" films. Each features a group of eclectic directors and well-known actors coming together to concoct brief clips; Rio, Shanghai, Jerusalem and Mumbai are next.</p><p>Inherently with such a structure, you’re going to have hits and misses. But whereas <em>Paris, je t’aime </em>had a healthy number of hits, <em>New York, I Love You </em>is the unfortunate opposite. Except for Shekhar Kapur’s entry, with its dreamy, ethereal light, nearly everything in <em>New York, I Love You </em>has a dark, gritty sameness that feels smothering. </p><p>Things begin inauspiciously with Jiang Wen’s short set in Chinatown. Hayden Christensen plays a pickpocket who follows a beautiful girl (his <em>Jumper</em> co-star Rachel Bilson) into a bar. Soon he finds himself in a battle of wits with her much older boyfriend (Andy Garcia). Both men light cigarettes in the bar — which has been against the law for years in New York City — injecting a distracting lack of authenticity from the start.</p><p>Natalie Portman and Irrfan Khan enjoy some sparks in Mira Nair’s contribution (and Portman herself directs a later piece). Brett Ratner’s segment offers a rare slice of dark humor. Anton Yelchin plays a high school senior with no date for the prom. The neighborhood pharmacist (James Caan) coaxes him into taking his daughter (Olivia Thirlby), who’s in a wheelchair. There’s nothing mawkish about it, and it doesn’t go where you might expect.</p><p><em>New York, I Love You </em>ends well with perhaps the strongest piece, from director Joshua Marston. Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman play a longtime married couple who bicker while walking through Brighton Beach. These two veterans are adorable together.</p><p><strong>Exclusive</strong>: Angelika Dallas, Angelika Plano</p><p>— Christy Lemire, The Associated Press