Review of New in Town Movie
Romantic Comedy Starring Renée Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr.
Jun 1, 2009
When Renée Zellweger is good, she is very, very good (think of her whimsical breakthrough performance in Jerry Maguire, or her calorie-obsessed, angst-ridden portrayal in Bridget Jones’ Diary). But when she is bad, well, she is in New in Town.
The premise of this 2009 romantic comedy is promising, if predicable, enough: ambitious Miami consultant Lucy Hill (Zellweger) offers to go to a small town in Minnesota to reverse the fortunes of an ailing manufacturing plant, in the hope of proving to her boss that she is vice president material. The workers’ reception of her is about as frosty as the weather (whenever someone arrives from head office people get laid off, they say).
That is until union representative Ted Mitchell (Harry Connick Jr.), a ruggedly handsome single father, appears to try and patch up relations between the two parties. Lucy develops a soft spot for him and consequently also for the local community. When she receives the order to close down the plant completely, putting all the employees out of a job, she is forced to reassess her priorities.
New in Town - Storyline's Potential Underused
The potential of the story lies in the setting in freezing, small-town Minnesota and the quirky characters there, particularly Stu Kopenhafer (J. K. Simmons), the delightfully disagreeable factory foreman who goes out of his way to make Lucy’s life a misery.
Unfortunately, the movie does virtually nothing with this potential. Instead, the viewer is forced to sit through 97 minutes of Zellweger either in businesswoman mode, looking so highly strung she might snap at any moment, or painfully grinding through what are supposed to be comedy scenes, but are invariably slapstick nightmares that fail to elicit even a smile.
A notable example is when Ted takes Lucy shooting on a frozen lake. Having nothing appropriate to wear, she borrows Ted’s overalls. Of course, she finds herself needing to go to the bathroom al fresco, but the zipper on the overalls breaks. In her struggle to get out of the garment, she accidentally pulls the trigger on the gun Ted has lent her, shooting him in the butt and landing him in the local emergency room.
Lack of Chemistry between Zellweger and Connick
The movie’s romantic element is similarly cringe-worthy. There is little real chemistry between the leading actors and the switch from mutual dislike to mutual attraction seems to come out of nowhere.
Like many of her films, Zellweger is one of those actresses that you either like or you don’t. Anyone in the latter category will probably not be reading this review anyway; and anyone in the former category will be sorely disappointed. New Girl in Town is one movie best left on the shelf.
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