Rating: 
Summary: pretty much rock bottom
Review: Audra (the reviewer below) and I must be blood sisters because everything she said in her review I agree with 100% and then some. I'm a big Richard Gere fan and like almost every movie just because I get to watch him. This movie is so bad that I started to even hate Richard Gere. Not to mention that Winona Ryder was SO unconvincing (why did this womanizer fall in love with her anyway? There is absolutely no reason in the movie to show why they are suddenly in love) that I was rooting for her death early on in the movie. I don't want to give away the plot, but by the end, let's just say that I felt a bit better about the movie overall. Everything about this film was bad: pathetic plot development, poor supporting roles, dialogue so bad that you may find yourself wincing over and over again, unimaginative cinematography that doesn't even make New York look good in Autumn, cheesy scenes... I won't go on. Not much chemistry either between the two. It's been months since I've hated a movie this much, and I think that says a lot since I love Gere and I had pretty low expectations -- this one sunk even lower than that. Read a good book instead.
Rating: 
Summary: disapointment in some way
Review: When I first rented this movie, I Thought it was going to be a great movie that even could be on my top 10 list of all my favorite movies!! but to my disbelief I found even though great acting by the great and beautiful Winona Ryder and okay Richard Gere, the story was not well written. It was boring for me to watch a movie where a terminally ill woman gets her heartbroken in the last few days of her life and forgives gere so easily. Although it was a tearjoker to know that charlotte (Ryder) died, the movie wasn't terrible, and it wasn't great. Rent the movie if you like the actors and an okay movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Spare me the cynicism
Review: Ryder plays a young woman who is critically ill, but very much alive. Gere's character is a successful restaurant owner and he's somewhat of a infamous playboy. The setting is vibrant and colorful. The plot is fairly familiar. A young girl, full of wonder and inspiration--an older man, a little jaded and in need of reform. There are a few twists to the old story. Since when do movies have to be 100% realistic to be entertaining? Isn't their "escape" from the ordinary world what we love about watching them? Movies about love's struggle against the odds will always be popular.
Rating:
Summary: manipulative and embarrassing
Review: This movie is really quite awful. I watched it on my DVD player coming back to the United States from Europe. I don't know if it was airsickness, or the foulness of this movie that made me so nauseous. Here's why it's so bad: it insults you, the viewer. It does this first because of issues of implausibility. The "sick" Ryder character has signed some "papers" which expressly forbid doctors from performing any life-saving surgery on her. The writer thought that because we're all familiar with "D.N.R." orders from watching E.R. on Thursday nights that we would think this was somehow plausible. And I won't spoil any surprises for you if I tell you that she is moved to sign new papers so that she doesn't have to part from her newfound love and successful restauranteur, played by Gere. Presumably, life wasn't alluring enough before he came along to bother trying to remedy her fatal ailment. Second, how are we supposed to find Gere's character appealing? I'm as smitten with his silvery locks as the next gal, but his character is a deadbeat dad who shags another woman on a roof while he's at a party on a date with Ryder's terminally ill character. This is a sympathetic character how? I understand the semiotics of Hollywood well enough to know that the makers of this film want us to run the gamut of emotions: we are to identify with Ryder's character and to feel terrible hurt, indignation, anger, jealousy, and grief. And when Gere comes groveling back, one is to feel more outrage, vindication, anxiety, hope, and finally love for those aforementioned locks. But I just thought: "Gross, what a loser and a lech." Hollywood is trying to tell us that deceit, betrayal, and irresponsibility are somehow charming. They are not. Nor are they forgivable when a gal has less than a year to live. What happened to her friends after the opening scene? Ryder's character is apparently one of those chics who abandons her friends as soon as she finds romance. Her character disappoints in so many ways. She is a fragile, victimized, wisp of a wimpy waif. Albeit a very pretty one. The Cinderella element which runs throughout the film is the source of many problems, not the least of which is that is depicts men as the sole benefactors of women's happiness. But I point out the Cinderella motif because I wish to include my mom's criticism of the film: how is it that the dress for the "ball" fit her so perfectly? And most nagging of all: where did she get her shoes? Bippety-boppety-boo!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful heartfelt movie that will make you cry
Review: Although it is true that this is not a perfect movie, there is a real chemistry between the main charachters that most people don't seem to realize. Mr. Ryder and Mr. Gere are both wonderful actors and thier sense of inner spirit and espre-de-cour was able to compensate for a rather weak script. The movie is quite slow to start with Winona Ryder meeting Gere at the resterant. The movie then picks up the pace some and both the audience and Mr. Gere fall in love with Ms. Ryder beauty, charm, grace, and quiet dignity in the face of death. Her portrayal of Charlotte is inspiring and brave. Mr. Gere also does a fine and creditable job as the playboy gentleman who falls for the rare beauty. This movie is sad and won't be a good movie to see if you want to see action or happy joy joy, but if you want to see Richard Gere and Winona Ryder acting their hearts out in a movie I feel worthy of Oscar consideration, please feel free to rent or (if you like it) buy it. Thank you BB
Rating:
Summary: It's been a tough year Winona..we still love you
Review: I am not a baseball fan but as I understand it being a Cubs fan is as much a measure of loyalty as anything. They watch there team lose, but they never give up, it's there team by golly and they stick by them. In the Year 2000, being a fan of Winona Ryders is not all that different. I forgive as the baseball fan who watches his team lose 13 to zip forgives, perhaps next year. When one is a devoted fan one can look beyond the horrendous film your idol has made. I tried to look beyond autumn in New York, really I tried. A comedy is unfunny if nobody laughs. A tearjerker, by the same measure, is no good unless somebody, anybody cries. Nary a tear was shed at the theater I was in, one of those discount theaters where the films are $2.00, even the little girls, you know, the ones who go to movies to cry, the ones who made Titanic a big hit, they seemed bored and they should have. I won't add to the boredom by telling you the plot, it suffices to say that a doomed relationship between an older man and a terminally ill young women is told through endless scenes of leaves and finally snow falling in parks, ornaments falling in slow motion from Christmas trees, on and on. People cried for Old Yeller, and when Dumbos Mom was wrongly accused there was not a dry eye in the house, no one cried for Violet, no one cared. Why should they? I can picture Winona Ryder, Claire Danes and John Travolta, all sitting in a bar drinking and wondering where it all went horribly wrong.
Rating:
Summary: Escaping from the heat.
Review: It was a hot August day when I saw this movie. We went in to escape the heat. I cannot remember a bad a movie as this stinker. The dialogue is horrendous, the acting abysmal, but it was pretty to look at, albeit with headphones playing some nice classical music. I was embarrassed for all involved. I have a feeling this movie will make many 10 worst movie lists of the year.
Rating:
Summary: 'Autumn' falls flat
Review: "You know what's wrong with people who look like you?" a character in "Autumn in New York" asks celebrity chef Will Keane. "Too much sex." Ah, the woes of stardom, especially if you're a New York restaurant owner who resembles Richard Gere and who can't help being lured out of the kitchen by every luscious young woman who stops by to dine and drink. Running one of Manhattan's top bistros is an arduous job. Lest Will have too much fun, along comes a stern reminder that all the money in the world still can't buy the gift of good health. Will may have the culinary world on a string, he may have flocks of admirers who look as if they just stepped off the cover of Maxim and a posh loft apartment, but true love still eludes him. And when Ms. Right finally comes along, wouldn't you know it, she has a massive tumor in her chest that's just about to crush her heart. As if terminal illness weren't enough, Will also has to deal with the fact that he's 48 and his new flame Charlotte (Winona Ryder) is barely 22. In fact, Will used to date Charlotte's mom before she got too serious and forced him to go off and knock up her best friend. Now the product of that one night stand, a statuesque daughter named Lisa (Vera Farmiga), wants to get to know her dad, even though she's noticeably older than the lady he's dating. Although "Autumn in New York" sounds like a potentially sizzling soap opera, it's actually another one of those mopey melodramas in which the central couple spends considerably more time taking lonely walks through the city and asking "what about our relationship?" than they do savoring the sweeter things in life. Were you to watch the movie's first 20 minutes, you might think you were about to see another variation on Gere's megahit "Pretty Woman," in which he swept the spry Julia Roberts off her feet. Initially, the screenplay by Allison Burnett treats the May-December theme with a bit of humor. "You think I'm too old for you," Will tells Charlotte, who fumbles for a response, then blurts out, "No, I collect antiques." Once it's revealed that Charlotte is a Pretty Sick Woman, however, the film becomes dour and tedious and, as in so many bad movies, the characters begin changing their attitudes and behavior from one scene to the next. Almost immediately after they've gotten together, Charlotte and Will begin discussing breaking up. Then at a Halloween bash, Will has a fling with an old girlfriend for absolutely no reason at all. Charlotte knows something illicit must have gone on because he looks more relaxed leaving the party than he did when he arrived. Most men would lie and say that was because of a few gin and tonics, but Will is a real stand-up guy when it come to discussing his lowdown morals. After much stroking of his chin and shaking of his silvery locks, Will determines to win Charlotte back by sharing with her some of the wisdom that's come with age. "Food is the only beautiful thing that truly nourishes," he proclaims. Charlotte is blown away by the profundity. "Autumn" was directed by Joan Chen, who can't think of much to do with the script except to switch to slow-motion every time something romantic or tragic happens. She hasn't had any luck lighting a fire under Gere, who spends most of the movie either trying desperately to look fascinated by Ryder or closing his eyes softly and turning his head slightly to express grief. Ryder fights a losing battle to be charmingly fey and pixieish in the first half of the story: Charlotte, in addition to designing hats that would win any wearer a slot on the Ten Worst Dressed List, tends to jump around and babble like a 13-year-old who just won a front-row seat to an N-Sync show. It's a sure sign your love story is in trouble when the stars are more convincing in the scenes in which they're screaming at each other than they are in the intimate interludes, and that's definitely the case here. As comic relief, Elaine Stritch drifts in to play her usual role, that of the foul-mouthed socialite who can't function without a cocktail in her hand. This time around, she's Charlotte's grandmother, a boozy biddy who seems to take some kind of sick delight in watching Charlotte make the same mistakes her mom made a generation earlier. For reasons known only to their agents, such classy actors as Anthony LaPaglia, Sherry Stringfield and Robert Sean Leonard also decided to lend their talents to "Autumn." Think of them as the band that reportedly went down with the Titanic.
Rating: 
Summary: A waste of the cast
Review: Frankly, I had much expectation when I went for the movie, it has a superb cast - Richard Gere and Winona Ryder, with a new but ambitious director Joan Chen. However, the movie is really disappointing. The cast and the director actually tried very hard on their parts, but it is story and the dialogues which are ver shallow and uninteresting. The story could be a good one, but the character development is not thorough. In fact there are a number of supporting actors and actresses whom could be used to flourish the story and the leading characters, but nothing was done through out. The plot of the story was somewhat predictable and indeed very predictable. However, if handled better, it could be a very good classic, for it has all the essential components - beautiful screening, handsome guy and pretty girl, plus a love story. However, all these were damaged by the shallow lines in the story. Joan Chen could have her debut directing movie more successful if she could choose a better script. Richard and Winona had done their best, so no other thing they could do to help out.
Rating:
Summary: Makes winter in Chicago look good.
Review: They don't make 'em like they used to, and Autumn in New York proves that maybe it's time to stop trying. A lachrymose romantic drama about a middle-aged Manhattan playboy (Gere) who falls for a fatally ill young woman (Ryder), this movie is a throwback to the melodramatic tearjerkers once regularly churned out by Hollywood. In those films, sickly heroines (played by the likes of Bette Davis in Dark Victory, Margaret Sullavan in Three Comrades or, more recently, Ali MacGraw in Love Story) grew ever more beautiful right up until they expired. But that was before disease-of-the-week TV movies (not to mention documentaries about AIDS and cancer) made it real clear that death be not proud -- and it isn't very pretty either. Yet pretty is exactly what the glossy Autumn tries to make it. Ryder's character, a perky 22-year-old named Charlotte who quotes Emily Dickinson and designs kooky hats, tells Gere's 48-year-old restaurateur early on that she's a goner thanks to a tumor encroaching on her heart. Taking the noble path, he decides -- after a few missteps -- to stay and becomes the better man for it. The film, though, becomes worse. As Autumn progresses, moving from one glamorous locale to the next, hokey plot complications (a last-ditch operation could save Charlotte) pile up and the movie grows ever lamer. Director Joan Chen (Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl) shows Manhattan to its best advantage, but she cannot disguise the puniness of Autumn's story or the sad fact that Gere and Ryder, who have both been better elsewhere, lack the chemistry to save it.
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