19

In the movie Serendipity (2001), in the following dialogue between Jonathan and Sara, I don't understand what Sara means when she says "Um, favorite New York moment.":

Sara : Okay. Favorite movie.

Jonathan : The correct answer is Cool Hand Luke.

Sara : I've never seen it.

Jonathan : Oh, come on. You've never seen Cool Hand Luke? Paul Newman? Oh my god. Come on! "Failure to communicate." Sadistic cop in sunglasses with no name. Reminds me of you in that way.

Sara : Um, favorite New York moment.

Jonathan : This one's climbing the charts.

I highlighted in bold the part that I don't understand. What are they talking about here? Is there a movie called New York that Sara's referencing? Or if she's just asking about the best time that Jonathan has had in New York, then what does his reply "This one's climbing the charts" mean here?

1 Answer 1

43

A New York Moment is an event that happens to you when you live in or are visiting New York that could only happen in New York. Or it could be anything notable that has happened to you since moving to New York.

New York isn’t necessarily extra special in this way. I’ve had New York moments but I’ve also had DC moments and LA moments and Seattle moments.

So she is asking, “what’s the best thing that’s happened to you in New York City?”

When he replies “This one’s climbing the charts”, he means the moment that he is currently experiencing in New York is so good that it’s becoming his favorite New York moment. It means he’s having a great time on the date.

3
  • 8
    It may be worth adding for clarity that "Favorite New York moment", in this context, is a new question/prompt – the characters are moving on to the next prompt after they've finished discussing the previous prompt of "favorite movie".
    – V2Blast
    Dec 16, 2022 at 17:23
  • 2
    I read it in the voice of Casey Kasem and was wondering what was so fascinating about 1980s radio.
    – Mazura
    Dec 17, 2022 at 3:03
  • 4
    "when you live in or are visiting New York that could only happen in New York" - I think more generally one that is characteristic to living in/visiting NY. For examples seeing a movie star might be an LA moment even though it could happen in NY - it's just more common/associated with LA. Dec 17, 2022 at 6:27

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .