New In Town (2009)
Directed by C. Jay Cox
Written by C. Jay Cox and Ken Rance
Starring Renee Zellweger, Harry Connick Jr, J.K Simmons, Frances Conroy
Release Date January 30th, 2009
Published January 29th, 2009
I find as I grow in the job of film critic that I am getting a little softer. I am growing more tolerant of some things and less tolerant of others. In my fiery early years I likely would have torched a little movie like New In Town simply because I could. I wouldn't have done it merely for sport, I would have had good solid reasons for torching it. The point being that I would have walked into the movie with an attitude and perhaps been less tolerant of overly familiar elements of the rom-com.
In fact, I have a number of good reasons to torch the film right now. But I am not going to. With experience I like to think comes wisdom and my newfound wisdom tells me that I would have been far too hard on this harmless forgettable little formula romance. Trashing New In Town for being a formula rom-com would be like squashing a bug with a rocket launcher.
Cute as a button Renee Zellweger stars in New In Town as Lucy, your prototypical fish out of water. The water here being New Ulm, Minnesota, a frozen corner of the world that is none too welcoming to a gal born and bred in Miami. Lucy has come to New Ulm to take over the management of a local food producing plant and fire half the staff.
If you can't guess that the hard hearted city gal falls for the small town charmers like Siohban Fallon's Blanche Gunderson or J.K Simmons as the crotchety plant manager, you just aren't trying. Throw in Harry Connick Jr. as the obligatory love interest and you can really say you've seen the movie just from knowing the cast.
Nothing in New In Town breaks the mold of your typical rom-com. This is where I would have started lobbing bombs in years past but not this time. Sure, I knew every step of this movie before walking in the door of the theater, the plot has all the depth of a 2 minute film trailer. What experience has taught me however, is that with rom-coms, it's not about how cliched the story is but rather how enjoyably enacted those familiar elements are. A well executed formula romantic comedy can still be a good movie if the cast is likable enough to make you forget the overly familiar elements.
New In Town succeeds, ever so slightly, due to Renee Zellweger being cute as a button with charm to spare. Zellweger is backed up by a charming supporting cast of veteran character actors capable of stealing a scene or two, especially the brilliant J.K Simmons, the conscience and the soul of New in Town and a guy who is impossible not to admire. The romance between Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. doesn't exactly set the screen on fire but, because of Zellweger, it has just enough charm for me to care about it.
Now, it's highly likely that you will have forgotten about New In Town by the time you reach the parking lot after seeing it. But, while you are watching New in Town, I imagine that you will smile, you will laugh genuinely and a few times and the movie will never offend you with any low brow humor, stupidity, or insulting twists of the plot. It may be a formula rom-com but it is a formula rom-com starring a rising superstar in Renee Zellweger. Her appeal alone is enough to life the film to a mild recommendation from me.
Yes, New in Town is a dumb little fairy tale romance that aspires to be nothing more than a minor distraction. That said, how can I trash a film for accomplishing exactly what it set out to accomplish? This review may not be enough to encourage you to see New In Town but I am not here to discourage you. The film will earn every dollar it gets this weekend.
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