Sidewalks of New York

Burns's lightweight comedy about various New Yorkers looking for sex and/or romance suffered from post-Sept. 11 disdain for anything frivolous. But it also suffers from weak writing, obvious "borrowing" from Woody Allen when he was still funny, and too few characters the audience can connect with. Burns is recently dumped TV producer Tommy, who hooks up with recently divorced teacher Maria (Dawson), whose ex, Ben (Krumholtz), thinks they can reunite, before he meets young waitress Ashley (Murphy), who's having an affair with a dentist (Tucci), who's married to Tommy's real-estate agent (Graham), in whom he naturally becomes interested. They're all being interviewed for a documentary on love and sex in NYC. Even if it doesn't work on many levels, the performances are generally fine, with Tucci standing out in the meatiest role.