‘Little Manhattan’ celebrates the simple wonder of a first crush

When HBO Max launched on May 27, there was much buzz about its formidable selection of classic films. Where else could you find every Superman movie alongside Casablanca, Spirited Away, and Hobbs & Shaw? And there amid the expansive library lay a hidden gem: one of my favorite films, Little Manhattan.

Written by Jennifer Flackett and directed by Mark Levin, Little Manhattan is the story of 10-year-old Gabe Burton (Josh Hutcherson) and his first crush, classmate Rosemary Telesco (Charlie Ray). The two end up in the same summer karate class, and the two weeks that follow turn Gabe’s life upside down. It is the epitome of a feel-good movie, filled with reminders of childhood, sweet flutterings of romance, and New York City at its most picturesque.

I’ve pitched stories about Little Manhattan so many times that my editor was genuinely surprised to learn I hadn’t written one in full (to be fair, I recently blurbed it and can’t promise I won’t again). It’s a movie I rewatch regularly, a movie I won’t shut up about to anyone who will listen — yet it remains woefully underseen, to the point that I have literally one friend who loves it like I do and we talk about how we’re the only ones.

I first had the privilege of watching this movie on a plane in 2006, and I remember smiling through the entire thing. It was a rom-com without the stakes of an adult relationships — a rom-com I actually understood, completely! My inexperienced 15-year-old self would joke that I learned everything I knew about love from that movie, but the feelings and lessons hit just as hard as I approach twice that age (haha, shit). There is immeasurable comfort, and only mild panic, in remembering that love is miraculous and maddening at every age.

“I’ve been in love for two and a half weeks, and it’s a pain I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.”

Gabe’s first love hits him with all the force of a meteorite. One day he’s peripherally aware of Rosemary, giving us a savvy explanation of cooties and the “Iron Curtain” that divides girls and boys in grade school — and the next, he’s admiring her karate prowess and wanting to know every detail of her life. Gabe is wise and jaded beyond his years in Hutcherson’s narration, showcasing the young actor’s talent in memorable lines like “I’ve been in love for two and a half weeks and it’s a pain I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.” Humor like this never diminishes the film’s sincerity or the inherent optimism in its story and bright visuals.

Little Manhattan illustrates the simple wonder of blooming love, young or otherwise. Gabe and Rosemary genuinely enjoy each other’s company, and they’re too young to know the excruciating dance of feigned disinterest. Their first date is straight out of a tourist brochure of Central Park, and a buoyant Gabe tells her how he imagines the buildings morphing into ships that sail into the skyline. The first time I ever visited that park in high school —with a crush, no less — I heard Matt White’s “Love” playing in my head, completing the magical spring day of my rom-com dreams.

Surreal moments like the ships crop up throughout the movie, reflecting Gabe’s 10-year-old imagination as it tries not to be karate chopped by adult emotions. He has regular visions of martial arts expert Mike Chaturantabut, who offers fighting tips as well as pointers about love. When Rosemary gets a new sparring partner who is the picture of every shaggy blond early-2000s dreamboat, Gabe imagines himself screaming at their inevitable future wedding in a pitch-perfect recreation of The Graduate — a movie I would later watch in film class and yelp at as I put two and two together.

Because it’s Gabe’s first crush, everything feels like life or death. “There are very few things more painful than watching the woman you love grapple with another man,” he muses in anguish while watching Rosemary and her new sparring partner “I take it back — there are no things more painful.” Later, Gabe pictures a full-on fight between himself and the other boy that ends with with the latter motionless on the floor. When Rosemary reveals she’s leaving for summer camp, Gabe groans that “she might as well have said she’s dying.”

And yes, New York is a character in the movie. Nine square blocks of it, to be exact. Gabe and Rosemary live their whole lives on the Upper West Side, and any departure from the neighborhood is rare and jarring. The film is peppered with extremely New York actors, including Bradley Whitford and Cynthia Nixon as Gabe’s parents. Another Sex and the City alum, Willie Garson, plays trusty elevator operator Ralph, and jazz musician Loston Harris even makes a cameo as himself. 

It would not be hyperbole at this point to say that my life would be incomplete without this movie. I watch it every year as spring creeps up on the city, and I can see New York through Gabe’s eyes, full of promise. I may never be 10 or have cooties again, but I will never forget the feeling of discovering young love with this movie.

Little Manhattan is streaming on HBO Max.