The Lady in the Van is a Perfect Pair with the Traveling Sweets at Sweetery NYC

Cast: Maggie Smith, Alex Jennings

In 250 Characters or Less:

Graced by the kindness of strangers a homeless woman finds herself living out her days in her van. Although difficult and ungrateful, an unlikely friendship forms between the crotchety old woman and the writer who lets her park in his driveway.

What Works:

Maggie Smith is pure genius in this role. Her character’s cantankerous demeanor and devil- may-care responses to people are the type of things only old people can get away with saying, which only adds to the film. In addition, her constant insistence of her cleanliness and that she’s won awards for such things is just one of the things that makes this character so amazingly delightful to watch.  

Sharing the screen with Smith is Alex Jennings as Alan, a writer and playwright who has a soft spot for the sad old woman and allows her to park in his driveway so as not to get towed by the town. What was only supposed to last three months became a fifteen-year relationship of love and respect masked by mutual disdain. We see two sides to Alan, the internal writer in him who stays home and the one who goes out and lives his less than exceptional life. It’s a great dynamic and lets audiences see the many layers to the character.

Be Aware:

The film feels a bit long, even though it’s only 1 hr 42 min. The pace is very slow and intentional as each scene brings us more insight into how the old woman came to live in her van, although the final reveal felt a bit anti-climactic.

Overall Grade: B

Sweetery NYC

Courtesy of SweeteryNYC

In 250 Characters or Less:

It’s all in the name. Sweetery delivers with brownies, whoopie pies, ice cream sammies, and more. This food truck is here to satisfy every New Yorker’s sweet tooth despite operating out of a tiny food truck -- much like that of The Lady in the Van.

What Works:

Where do we begin?

Whoopie pies, ice cream sammies, spinach and cheese croissants, chocolate brioches, candied ginger shortbread cookies, and much much more. That is just the tip of the “sweet” iceberg and New York City’s Sweetery. This mobile bakery isn’t only serving up guilty pleasures by the dough but actually has extra large windows in its trucks allowing customers to see right into its kitchen where its goodies are baked fresh on a daily basis.

Be Aware:

Of a growing waistline!

Overall Grade: A

377 E 33rd St. in Murray Hill

(212) 888-3939

sweeterynyc.com