New York City Serenade is a 2007 comedy-drama film written and directed by Frank Whaley and starring Freddie Prinze Jr., Chris Klein and Jamie-Lynn Sigler. It made its debut at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. The film takes its title from the Bruce Springsteen song of the same name from 1973.

Plot

Owen is an aspiring filmmaker who has been nominated for an award for one of his short films in which his friend Ray appears. Owen has a job developing photos in the film industry. Ray has an office job (this week) but still plays drums in a rock band, and he has a young daughter, Francie, as well as a drinking problem. Owen is engaged to Lynn.

Owen and Lynn go out to a film, where they meet Lynn s French literature professor Noam. Then they catch the end of one of the performances of Ray s band. Owen wants to continue the date with Lynn afterward, but Ray persuades Owen by asking for help moving his drums. Ray and Owen then wind up going to Bertrand s party where Owen and Rachel end up in bed.

Owen, Ray, and two of their friends are asked to serve as pallbearers when the father of their friend Matt dies in New Jersey. While Owen is out of town, Lynn and Rachel meet, and Lynn learns the truth about what Owen and Rachel did. Lynn wants to break up with Owen.

Owen takes Ray to the film festival where he hopes to win an award for his short film. When they arrive, their driver Les is supposed to take them to the airport motel, but Ray saw Wallace Shawn and found out he was staying at the Four Seasons. Ray and Owen go to the Four Seasons and Ray overhears that Shawn s son will be late, so Ray claims to be Shawn s son, and gets himself and Owen a nice room. At the festival, Owen does not win anything. After returning to the hotel, their scheme has been discovered and they are kicked out. Owen repeatedly calls Lynn trying to make up with her, but she never answers and the two are never again shown together. In Lynn s last scene, she is getting ready to go on a date with Noam.

At the end of the movie, some time has passed, Ray has straightened his life out, he has a good job, and he has a good relationship with his daughter. Owen has produced a successful television commercial.

Cast

• Freddie Prinze Jr. as Owen
• Chris Klein as Ray
• Jamie-Lynn Sigler as Lynn
• Ben Schwartz as Russ
• Christopher DeBlasio as Ben
• Sebastian Roché as Noam Broder
• Wallace Shawn as himself
• Frank Whaley as Les
• Emma Bell as Melinda
• Diana Gettinger as Rachel
• Jeff Skowron as Matt

Reception

Kyle Smith of the New York Post called the film one of those pointless indies that you ll have forgotten before the credits roll and criticized Frank Whaley s staggering lack of insight, imagination and wit . Nathan Lee of The New York Times called the film transparently banal .

Year	2007
ReleaseDate	2008-08-15
RuntimeMins	103
RuntimeStr	1h 43min
Plot	Two down on their luck childhood friends struggle to figure out their lives. Ray a drummer in a rock and roll band, and Owen an aspiring film maker spend most of their time working menial jobs and drinking. When Owen’s fiancé Lynn…
Awards	Awards, 1 nomination
Directors	Frank Whaley
Writers	Frank Whaley
Stars	Freddie Prinze Jr., Chris Klein, Jamie-Lynn Sigler
Produced by	Laird Adamson,Lynn Appelle,Jimi Jones,Rachel Peters,Rick Whealen
Music by	Ed Harcourt
Cinematography by	Ryan Samul
Film Editing by	Miran Miosic
Casting By	Sig De Miguel,Stephen Vincent
Production Design by	Dara Wishingrad
Art Direction by	Beth Kuhn
Set Decoration by	Shane Klein
Costume Design by	Virginia Cook
Makeup Department	Jill Karol,Rebecca Perkins,Lora Scrignoli,Taurance F. Williams
Production Management	Peter Bobrow,Meredith Petty Hughes,Paul Leonardo Jr.
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Scott Larkin,Michael A. Moffa,Stephanie Stoltzfus
Art Department	Amanda Betz,Sarah Bricker,Dominick Cocuzzo,Kley Gilbuena,Nadya Gurevich,Jonathan Hustad,Dan Kajeckas,James Maher,Michael Powsner,Christian Reinhardsen,Patrick T. Rousseau,Adam Sober,Boaz Tcherikover,John Udell,Cathy Wassylenko,Ramona Wong
Sound Department	Ilya Akiyoshi,Ron Bedrosian,Zane D. Bruce,Krissopher Chevannes,Stuart Deutsch,Tammy Douglas,Mark Filip,Don Givens,Lewis Goldstein,Jeff Gunn,Cate Montana,Fred Rosenberg,Joseph T. Sabella,Paul Sacco,Peter Waggoner
Visual Effects by	Jennifer Basnyat
Camera and Electrical Department	Dave Baney,Terrence C. Burke,John Clifford,Autumn Eakin,Nicole Emmons,Rob Harrigan,Wesley Hodges,Alec Jarnagin,Michael Kirsch,Alexandra Matheson,Sean Monesson,Jeff Panessa,Aaron Randall,Jeremy Rodriguez,Steve Siddell,Don Spiro,Matt Staples,Andy Westbrook,Toshiro Yamaguchi,Zenfeek
Casting Department	Lori Eastside,Tina Kerr,Robert Oppel,Danielle Pretsfelder
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Sonja Cizmazia,Rebecca Edmonston,Abby O’Sullivan
Editorial Department	Andrew Buckland,Sam Daley,Nancy Jundi,Kent McGrew,John Mullin,Stan Sztaba,Joe Violante,Keith Croket
Location Management	Ronald Arceneaux,E.J. Bradley III,Amy Carthew,Teddy Yoon
Music Department	Linda Cohen,Adam Moreno
Script and Continuity Department	Carol A. Compton,Rachel Connors
Additional Crew	Carolyn Albright,Kenneth Chu,Ralph Costanza,Luke Crawford,Amy Dempsey,Kristyn DiPane,Peter Flanigan,Tom Glick,D.G. Gonzalez,Didi Gruenwald,Shawn Hamilton,Marlon Mark,John Melville,Steve Nuke,Sarah Perlin,Richie Roefaro,Harry Sando Jr.,Kevin R. Wood,Russell Zapata
Genres	Comedy, Drama
Companies	IKM Productions
Countries	USA
Languages	English
ContentRating	R
ImDbRating	5
ImDbRatingVotes	543