Isabelle Grossman works for a New York bookstore, where she mingles with the city's literati, whom she idolizes. But outside of work she is lonely and unfulfilled, settling for an occasional night of romance with Nick, a married man. When Dutch-American author Anton Maes comes to the bookstore to give a reading, he shows an interest in Isabelle, who is charmed.
Isabelle pays frequent visits to her Yiddish-speaking Bubbe (grandmother), Ida, who lives in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (location of Delancey Street). Anxious for her granddaughter to settle down with a decent Orthodox man, Ida hires a marriage broker. Although enraged, Isabelle grudgingly allows the matchmaker to introduce her in Bubbe's kitchen to Sam Posner.
At first Isabelle is dismissive of Sam, as she is not interested in a man who owns a small business selling pickles and who, she believes, hired the matchmaker. Instead, she sets her sights on Anton and the New York City intelligentsia, but she also feels guilty for how rude she was to Sam. She tries to make it up to him by setting him up with her girlfriend Marilyn. In the process, though, she learns that Sam did not hire the matchmaker, but that he respects her as a fellow business person and talks to her on that basis. It was only when the matchmaker showed him a photo of Isabelle that he became interested in meeting her. He had seen Isabelle with Ida in the neighborhood for many years and admired her. Isabelle is deeply touched, though her friends see Sam has given up on her and started dating Marilyn.
One day at a store book reading, Sam shows up invited by Isabelle, as does Anton. Isabelle leaves with Sam. As they are planning to share a drink together, Nick barges in to complain about his wife changing the locks. Sam and Isabelle soon agree to meet the next day at her Bubbe's apartment to go on a date.
After work the next day, however, she is sidelined by Anton and, believing that he is romantically interested in her, goes to his apartment. She discovers instead that the narcissistic Anton wants an assistant he can sleep with, not a real wife or girlfriend. A disgusted Isabelle rejects him and races to her grandmother's apartment, finding Ida sleeping on the couch. Heartbroken, she believes she has ruined her chances with the honest and caring Sam. As she cries, Sam enters from the balcony. The two finally are united and Ida, waking and having feigned senile dementia to keep Sam from leaving, laughs gleefully that her plan has succeeded.
The film opened at the Plaza theatre in New York City on August 26, 1988.[3][4]
Reception
The film received positive reviews.[5][6][7] It currently holds an 82% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 87 reviews with the consensus: "A small-scale delight fueled by Amy Irving's irresistible charm, Crossing Delancey celebrates love with contagious optimism."
One retrospective review from 2018 called Crossing Delancey "the ultimate Jewish rom-com" and a rare great story of "outwardly Jewish love".[8]
Box office
The film was a modest success, grossing $16 million in the United States and Canada against a $4 million budget.[1]
Crossing Delancey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the motion picture Crossing Delancey, released October 17, 1988. Instrumental tracks were by Paul Chihara, and songs were performed by (and in some cases written by members of) The Roches.
Suzzy Roche of the Roches played Marilyn, a friend of Isabelle (Irving), in the film. The Roches provided several songs for the soundtrack. One of the songs that was featured in the film, Nocturne, is also featured on the group's 1989 album Speak. An earlier arrangement of their cover of "Come Softly to Me" is featured on their album Another World.
