Manhattan Night: the noir story that Brian DeCubellis tells in this film deserves its qualification, but that doesn’t make it half good; it’s a dark tale, filled with twisted characters, but it’s also one that neither makes much sense nor allows for any emotional connection with the situation or the characters. The stock characters are here: the gumshoe (of sorts), the femme fatale, the personification of corruption. However, their motivations don’t hold any water, and the weak story makes everything else crumble around it. Acting is fine, but far from memorable: Yvonne Strahovski is smouldering and convincing as the main female character (DeCubellis is certainly very generous with the male gaze when portraying her), while Adrien Brody is good as the tenacious but overmatched journalist; they do not share much chemistry together, however. Aesthetically, the film does nothing new or remarkable: jazzy musical score, Manhattan (as both titles suggest) mostly captured by cinematographer David Tumblety at night, with coloured neons and wet pavements.