Sudden Manhattan

Former Hal Hartley mainstay Adrienne Shelly graduates to "A Film By" credit with her feature writing and directing debut, Sudden Manhattan. Ms. Shelly, still the pixie-ish beauty she was in Trust, plays single, broke and dispirited NYC-rez Donna, who, on an otherwise perfectly normal day, stumbles into a parallel universe where absurdities and suitors abound. Foremost among the latter is the reliably inconstant Adam (Tim Guinee), who alternately stalks and courts Donna until she sexually submits--only to discover Adam's not up to the task. Repeatedly. Aiming for Holly Golightly in After Hours, but bereft of either wit or humor, this forced farce quickly tires. Not helping matters any is the film's production values, which are a notch above student films (and it's so badly panned and scanned, in fact, that a crucial murder inadvertently takes place off-screen). Not recommended. (S.C. Sickles)