The idea behind the urban-anthology film "Paris, Je T'Aime," for which noted directors contributed short segments about each of that city's districts, is being franchised. Along with unauthorized movies devoted to Tokyo and Bangkok, there's an upcoming installment on Shanghai and now an officially licensed valentine to America's most storybook city: New York.

Like the Paris anthology, "New York, I Love You" is neither a comprehensive guide nor consistently good, but because the theme is romance, most of these small bites of the Big Apple are easy to digest.

Not too surprisingly, most of the actors are of dating age; it's more surprising that most of them are white, particularly because directors such as Mira Nair, Jiang Wen and Fatih Akin come from overseas. Of course, there was no requirement that the movie represent the ethnic diversity of the city or even that it cover all five boroughs; but some of the segments are disappointingly generic.

Four of the 10 include rendezvous at unremarkable bars, and two of those involve chance meetings during a smoke break. In one, a scruffy writer (Ethan Hawke) tries to charm a Chinese beauty (Maggie Q) who says her husband is waiting inside. In the other, an unhappy wife (Robin Wright) proposes an anonymous tryst with a chain-smoking businessman (Chris Cooper). We can spot the plot twist coming down Broadway.

In the most unintentionally disturbing segment, by mainstream hack Brett Ratner, a pharmacist (James Caan) persuades a schoolboy (Anton Yelchin) to go on a blind date with his daughter (Olivia Thirlby). That she doesn't quite resemble her photograph isn't the problem; it's the Hollywood way that the boy is rewarded for merely tolerating her.

Because so many of the segments are about young lovers, the standouts involve people past their prime. In a hauntingly surreal segment by Shekhar Kapur, a suicidal ex-singer (Julie Christie) is nurtured by a mysterious, lame bellboy (Shia LaBeouf). And in a touchingly funny film by Joshua Marston, Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman play an elderly couple strolling to Coney Island. That's the New York you don't see in perfume commercials — and the New York a lot of us love.