Customer Reviews

New In Town

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

This is one of my favorite movies. If you are from the midwest or have visited someone in the midwest especially in the winter you will find this movie funny. I am from California and married someone from northern Michigan so I can relate to Renee's character in the movie as she is from Florida. I have had several trips to Michigan/midwest and discovered a totally different type of living than what I have experienced in Los Angeles. I laughed and found it very heart warming.

2.5 stars. The title of my review pays homage to several influences that came to mind while watching "New in Town", all of which, I might add, were funnier than this. Multifaceted Oscar winner Renee Zellweger has finally encountered a role she can't pull off convincingly, that of a ruthlessly ambitious corporate management type tasked with turning around an underperforming factory. 'Fish out of Water' stereotypes abound as our plucky gal travels from Miami to New Ulm, MN (Winnipeg stands in for Minnesota here, and is even colder, if that is possible), to earn herself a promotion by making the factory profitable. As her entire wardrobe consists of designer suits and shoes more fitting of a fashion editor covering the Bryant Park shows than to a hard hat zone in Minnesota in the middle of winter, her new subordinates are doubtful that this will be achieved. As are we. Of course, the script demands that everyone, including the hunky union boss (Harry Connick, Jr.) take an instant dislike to the stuck-up big city suit intent on screwing them out of a job, until, of course, she reveals her pluckiness and charm and they win her over with tapioca and down-home Midwestern gumption. Renee Zellweger has proven that there is no other actress more willing to take physical pratfalls and otherwise look ridiculous as she, and she pratfalls her little heart out as she falls sideways in the snow; falls facedown in the snow; falls backwards off the porch into snow while drunk; gets her car stuck in the snow; and memorably tries to take a pee in the woods while wearing about 75 pounds of snowsuit. She works her little heart out to bring the funny, but the script lets her down and just never gels into a cohesive whole. Some of the supporting players are effortlessly hilarious, most notably Siobhan Fallon Hogan as Blanche Gunderson, who is certainly related to Frances McDormand's Sheriff Marge Gunderson of "Fargo", and J.K. Simmons (Spiderman; The Closer), nearly unrecognizable under a 10-pound beard and even heavier Minnesota accent. The leads unfortunately can't save this from being a freeze-dried piece of Rom-Com Screenwriting 101 complete with Midwestern sterotypes. Even if the good people of Minnesota have no other hobbies besides ice fishing, scrapbooking and eating tapioca (which I'm sure they do), this is insulting all the same. Matthau and Lemmon did this better, and had loads more chemistry, too. It's kinda a shame that so many cast and crew members braved frostbite for this frozen dud. But the Academy might consider minting a new award and making Renee its shoo-in first recipient: Best Performance in Stiletto Heels on Snow Pack by a Lead Actress. Really--she deserves some kind of recognition for that.

Funny. Renae does a great job and Harry is always good. Love the Minnesota accents but loved the strong faith represented in the film. It does change hearts. Good film and a great plot, seems to remind me of living in this state in a small town with small town politics. This film about sums it up. Good job.

There is a quiet fireside scene between stars Renée Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. on a couch about midway through this 2009 rom-com. It lasts a couple of minutes, and that is one of the very few redeemable qualities that this otherwise flat and predictable film has to offer. It's no wonder that this movie came and went very quickly in theaters because I'm really amazed at how poorly constructed it is by Danish director Jonas Elmer and how overly reliant it is on cutesy humor and dated stereotypes. I thought Zellweger already went down the path of the smug career woman with her unctuous turn as a Doris Day wannabe in Peyton Reed's retro-kitschy Down with Love, but it looks like she is going down the well once again with even less fortuitous results this time. She plays Lucy Hill, a cutthroat middle management executive on the fast track in a Miami-based food processing conglomerate. Sent to the arctic-level cold of New Ulm, Minnesota, Lucy has been assigned to dismantle and downsize operations in order to produce a new snack bar line.

Tough as nails with the high heels to match, Lucy is unsurprisingly hated by most of the townsfolk with two exceptions. One is her devoted secretary, Blanche Gunderson, who has a secret tapioca recipe that figures into the by-the-numbers plot, and the other is Ted Mitchell, the local union representative who pushes Lucy off her self-anointed pedestal only to find himself falling in love with her. The film's first half is marked by all the typical fish-out-of-water clichés that co-screenwriters Kenneth Rance and C. Jay Cox could resuscitate, or at least copy from Charles Shyer's Baby Boom (1987), while the second half is even worse with Lucy inevitably winning the trust of the townsfolk with her fierce determination redirected in saving the plant. The means by which she finds success for the factory is almost as predictable as the makeover montage showing how she transforms Ted's adolescent daughter into a prom princess. Attempts at Capra-level corn seem not only uninspired but completely unoriginal, and the aw-shucks stereotypes of rural Minnesotans lifted from the Coen Brothers' Fargo only add to the contrivances pervasive throughout the plot.

Photographed in a most unflattering manner, Zellweger has rarely been this unappealing onscreen, and it's a wonder why she would have accepted a role as soul-curdling as Lucy. Connick comes across as either belligerent or listless as Ted, and the chemistry between the actors suffers for the dichotomy. As kind-hearted Blanche, Siobhan Fallon Hogan (the birthing coach in Baby Mama) is never given a chance to elevate the character above a regional stereotype, while J.K. Simmons (the wiseacre father in Juno) manages to score a few points as the plant's curmudgeonly foreman. Interestingly, Winnipeg, Manitoba substitutes for rural Minnesota, and credit cinematographer Chris Seager for fully capturing the rigorous winter conditions. Given how dismal the movie's box office returns were, the 2009 DVD provides a surprisingly robust set of extras with a making-of featurette as well as a couple of other shorts spotlighting some of the plot devices like scrapbooking and tapioca pudding. There are some deleted scenes and an optional commentary track with the cast and crew.

I was thinking this would be a typical boring romance, but I really enjoyed this movie. It was predictable, but a feel good movie. I didn't give it 5 stars due to the predictability, but I think it deserves 4 stars. I enjoyed Harry Connick JR and Renee Zellweger as well. Not sure if I would purchase this movie, but I enjoyed renting it, and am glad I saw it.

I was excited to see a PG rated chick flick on the new release list and looked forward to seeing this film. In my experience, I don't have to fast forward/tell my kids to cover their eyes/tell my kids to leave the room/just turn the thing off if a chick flick is PG. Unfortunately, Hollywood just can't seem to master the art of combining decent and clean with high quality. Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick were okay as the leads. I've always liked Connick and Zellweger is growing on me. However, the story is 100% predictable - Prada-laden, cutthroat businesswoman from Florida meets frozen backwards Minnesotan hicks. The romance played out the way I guessed from when the two characters first met. And the business storyline also played out as predicted. The Scandinavian type accents on the locals, particularly Sioban were exaggerated in an effort to make them funnier but it annoyed rather than amused me. I got through it but have no desire to watch it again, which means I won't be buying it. Thank goodness for public libraries where I can check this stuff out for free and not have to waste $ on it.

I think this a cute movie, but it's EXTREMELY predictable. So much so that I ended up going into the kitchen to cook some food about a quarter of the way thru, turning my head every few minutes or so towards the screen to see if I missed any surprises. Nope. While the predictability was mildly annoying, the attempt at a Minnesotan accent was pure comedy. I've lived in Minnesota for many years, and I can honestly say that I have never, ever heard ANYONE talk like that. I suppose it's meant to be a spoof, but it became very annoying after the first few lines. I think THAT is maybe the main reason I left the room. Anyways, it's a cute movie at least. The story is simple yet sweet, not my personal style, but it was OK.

How saddened I was to see that two of my favorite actors chose to do this film that was so disappointing. I watched it with three friends, all of whom are romantic comedy and drama movie types, and we finally shut it off after repeatedly telling one another, "We'll give it a chance" and "Maybe it'll get better" for over 45 minutes. The best word to describe this film, in my opinion: DULL.

This movie would have been a lot better without Harry Connick Jr. I am not sure when he became an actor or why for that matter, but I really don't think he matched up well with Zellweger or the others. There are a few scenes that are very funny (without Connick). But the movie as a whole doesn't stand up to the idea of the story and it could have been a lot better. What I admire most about the film is that they shot it in Winnipeg, Canada in bitterly cold weather. And for that reason alone the film deserves four stars. But I only gave it two for the actors ability to pull their character through each scene and story development (or lack thereof).

It cost millions to make a movie. This one must have had some very experienced people making it, because the prodcution values were very good.

HOWEVER you would think that there was a LEAST ONE person who worked for these people that would be able to tell them that their movie sucked. If there is no such person then I here by applly for the position. This movie almost sucks!

Okay let's do this the quick and painless way and list the things that are BAD:

1. There is No chemsitry between the leads. There is nothing happening with them in any of their scenes together. The stuck zipper scene should have been charming, playfull, and cute at least, but NOTHING! Rene has to be the one to start the kissing action and then she does it while the poor slob is telling her about his first wife dying! That is romantic?
2. Rene Z. isn't even filmed in such away that she looks attractive. The male lead is crubby looking and comes on as a "pig." I understand that this maybe the script's fault, but he never becomes likeable.
3. The script is predictable and the ending, well you know is coming way too early. The woman's dessert is thrown up to us all the way through the movie. The ending speech is HORRIBLE! I didn't know if the guy was serious at first, I guess his lack of beard should have warned me
4. The car scene at the first of the movie between the two women fell flat and was painful to sit through.
5. The BIGGEST sin a movie can make is being slow or dull. This movie does both.

Why two stars?
The minor characters like the foreman are neat and interesting, especially when we go to his basement in his ex-wife's house where we me his ex wife and what he says when she comes down stairs is great.

look if you want a movie that has a fish out of water and great chemistry between the leads go see THE PROPOSAL.