Very uneven, drags on too long, and has too much of the "gritty realism" look. On the upside, it has some wonderfully teary-eyed romantic moments, and Maggie & Leon are completely convincing as the two kindred souls buffeted together and apart by the whims of real life interference. Eric Tsang is also marvellous as Maggie's gangster sugar daddy. The one part of the story not clearly explained is how the key characters came to be in New York........ The strategic removal of at least thirty minutes of long boring bits would have helped much, and may even have brought it up to the standard of the stunning Love_And_The_City, with which comparisons are inevitable.

Overall : Watch it, but on video, and use judiciously the fast-forward button !