A Rainy Day in New York: there is a certain fluffy and pointless charm in Woody Allen’s comedy; as the two main characters, one aimless, the other clueless, navigate around a dreamy New York city bathed in golden light and a collection of neurosis, one can’t help but marvel at how beautiful and fetching the apartments, bars, even streets are, and not much else. This shows how solid the work of production designer Santo Loquasto is, well-captured by the fluid and elegant camerawork of cinematographer Vittorio Storaro. The story, however, introduces way too many characters and doesn’t really do much with them; the film ends up being more of a love-letter to an idealized view of the city. It’s a fine cast; Timothée Chalamet, as one of the three stand-ins for the insecurities and anxieties of Allen, is believable as the clever and troubled young man, and is capable of dealing with the smart (sometimes a bit too much) lines of dialogue; Elle Fanning is lovely as the airhead ingénue; Selena Gomez is also a good presence as the lively, smart third side of a triangle. The rest of the cast, particularly the older hands, have shorter screentime and not much of a chance to build something memorable.