Review: "New in Town"
Franck Tabouring
Seen on: January 31, 2009
The players: Director: Jonas Elmer, Writers: C. Jay Cox, Ken Rance, Cast: Renee Zellweger, Harry Connick Jr., J. K. Simmons, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Frances Conroy
Facts of interest: None whatsoever.
The plot: A Florida businesswoman's stay in a small Minnesota town changes for the better when she falls in love with the local labor union rep.
Our thoughts: In Jonas Elmer’s “New in Town,” Renee Zellweger plays Lucy Hill, a successful Miami consultant whose life takes a drastic turn when she’s sent to a small Minnesota town to oversee the restructuring of a manufacturing plant. Lucy really despises the place and its inhabitants at first, but once she gets better acquainted with a local labor union rep (Harry Connick Jr.), things change quicker than she could have ever imagined…
Sure, the story as such sounds all cute and funny… until you see it on the big screen. Tedious and completely unoriginal, Zellweger’s latest effort to charm moviegoers with a romantic comedy falls victim to an old formula we’ve seen way too many times before. Nothing at all is surprising or funny in this movie, and the story’s predictability puts an enormous strain on an already slow-moving plot.
Even worse than the big snooze that is Lucy’s stay in the cold Minnesota town are the film’s central characters. While the story certainly tries very hard to make these folks come across as good-hearted locals who would do anything to help each other, most of these characters are empty, dull and hardly funny.
“New in Town” spends quite some time setting up a romance between Zellweger and Connick Jr., but as far as I am concerned, they two really don’t share a vibrant chemistry. Maybe it’s because of their forgettable characters that I didn’t buy their love story at all, but there is nothing about the two that amazed me in any way.
The rest of the film is straightforward and superficial as well. Lucy arrives in Minnesota hating everything and everybody, until she realizes how sweet and loyal these small-town people are. From there, she embarks on a quick journey trying everything in her power to prevent any of them from losing their jobs.
Freaky quote: “You know you're not so bad when you're unconscious." – Harry Connick Jr.
The final word: I didn’t laugh once during “New in Town,” and I admit I found it really hard to sit through the whole thing without wanting to just go home and take my nap there instead of the movie theater. But I paid for my admission, so I decided to stick around. My only advice to you is: save your money for something else. There’s absolutely nothing new about this “Town.”
Article by Franck Tabouring
Reader Comments (4)
I absolutely loved this movie, as did my nieces who attended with me. We laughed a lot in this movie, as did the entire theater audience(which was packed, btw). Renee and Harry had fantastic chemistry. Renee is very good at physical comedy. Overall, one of the most charming movies I have seen in a long time ! I also thought the plot of the manufactoring plant problems really hit home considering the economic times we face today!
Wow! Are you sure you saw "New In Town" because I saw it last night and thought it was a very good movie. My wife wanted to see it so I went along, thinking it would be a typical chick flick. (sorry ladies!) But, I was pleasantly surprised. It was great! I laughed a lot and found the supporting characters to be very warm and funny! Renee was cute as always and very funny. The romance between Harry and her was ver y believeable and my wife thought it was very sexy. I mainly enjoyed the comedy and characters.
My wife and I fully enjoyed the movie and thought it was hilarious. We live in Minnesota and were able to
"get" the local humor although can't think of many here who have the supposedly Minnesotan accents from the townspeople in the film.
Laugh at us all you want, but we have one of the highest educational levels and church memberships of the fifty. As to the weather, we "up nort" folks do have weather other than sub-zero. Come and visit us and experience Minnesota nice!
Wow........I think Frank had a nap at home and thought he saw this movie.
We went with 4 couples and after went to dinner.....we all just loved it and talked about the movie the whole evening......but then we are all normal people and none a movie cretic and all have regular jobs.
Go see it if you just want to see a good film. It's not GONE WITH THE WIND. It is just a nice movie.