Crossing Delancey

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Crossing Delancey
Directed by	Joan Micklin Silver
Produced by	Michael Nozik
Written by	Susan Sandler (based on her play)
Starring	Amy Irving Peter Riegert Reizl Bozyk Jeroen Krabbé Sylvia Miles Rosemary Harris Amy Wright
Music by	Paul Chihara The Roches (songs) Sergei Prokofiev (from "Kije's Wedding")
Cinematography	Theo Van de Sande
Editing by	Rick Shaine
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	24 August 1988
Running time	97 min
Country	USA
Language	English
IMDb profile

Crossing Delancey is a romantic comedy film released in 1988. It is directed by Joan Micklin Silver and is based upon a play by Susan Sandler (Sandler also wrote the screenplay). It stars Amy Irving and Peter Riegert.

Amy Irving was nominated for a Golden Globe for the movie, for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical".

1 Plot
2 Critical Reception
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] Plot

Isabelle (played by Irving) is the manager of the New York independent bookstore "New Day Books", which supports authors through public readings. When the poet Anton Maes (played by Jeroen Krabbé) comes to the bookstore to give such a reading, he becomes interested in Isabelle.

Meanwhile, Isabelle is trying to resolve the conflict she feels between her desire to fit into the urbane environment offered by the bookstore and her more down-to-earth traditional Jewish upbringing. Isabelle still finds time to spend with her traditional Bubbie (grandmother), portrayed by the noted actress of Yiddish theater, Reizl Bozyk.

Isabelle's male prospects include her ex-boyfriend who only shows up when his current girlfriend kicks him out of the house and Anton, who beds all of his assistants (and sees Isabelle as his next conquest). Sensing this, Bubbie uses a traditional Jewish matchmaker to supply a third suitor for Isabelle, Sam Posner (played by Peter Riegert), the man who runs the local pickle shop.

At first, Isabelle rejects Sam, as she believes herself to be too good for him, and she goes after Anton. She attempts to set Sam up with one of her girlfriends, but finds herself realizing that Sam is a good person with whom she can see a future. She realizes this fact when an elderly diva (Paula Laurence) strangely singles her out in public and sings Some Enchanted Evening to her. However, on the night of her big date with Sam, she is sidelined by Anton and agrees to meet him, while leaving Sam hanging. After Anton reveals himself to be a self-centered lout, she realizes how worthwhile Sam is and races to meet him before he is out of her life forever.