New in Town (2009)

Directed by: Jonas Elmer | 96 minutes | comedy, romance | Actors: Renée Zellweger, Harry Connick Jr., Siobhan Fallon, JK Simmons, Mike O’Brien, Frances Conroy, Ferron Guerreiro, James Durham, Robert Small, Wayne Nicklas, Hilary Carroll, Nancy Drake, Stewart J. Zully, Marilyn Boyle, Dan Augusta, Jimena Hoyos, Suzanne Coy, Ordena Stephens, Devin McCracken, Leif Lynch, Adam Cronan, Tom Wahl, Christopher Read, Peter Jordan, Vanessa Kuzyk, Matt Kippen, Benjamin Beauchemin, Kristen Harris, Blane Cypurda

The American comedy ‘New in Town’ is a chick flick made according to two well-known formulas. Formula 1: A city dweller is sent to a provincial hole against his will. After a difficult start in which all his prejudices are confirmed, he learns to appreciate his fellow villagers and their manners. Formula 2: a love story, in which two opposites fall into each other’s arms forever after several quarrels and abuse. Both Formula 1 and Formula 2 have been tried and tested. A film-maker must then be of good family to add something to it.

With ‘New in Town’ the makers don’t even seem to try. To say this film lacks originality is an understatement. We have seen everything that passes here before. And better. Of course the inhabitants of the village, despite their silly language and simple appearance, are honest (sigh), helpful (deep sigh) and much wiser than you might think (deep, deep sigh). The love story also follows the lines of its hundreds of predecessors. The lonely career woman, the attractive widower, her arrogance, his wise lessons, her dexterity, his gratitude, the kiss, the bed, happily ever after.

Since ‘New in Town’ is a comedy, at least hope for some humor to laugh about. That doesn’t work either. You see all the jokes coming from afar or you have seen them a hundred times before. Most jokes are also terribly corny, the low point being fiddling with a zipper that won’t open when peeing in the snow outside.

In addition, Renée Zellweger is not the most suitable actress for the role of career woman. The self-mockery that made her sympathetic in the Bridget Jones films is completely missing. Where the makers had undoubtedly hoped for a sympathetic heroine, here we see an annoying and old-fashioned botox woman. Who is always less annoying than her tapioca-obsessed secretary.

All this makes ‘New in Town’ a bloodless and poor quality chick flick for overripe chicks. If you consider that this comedy has been given a real cinema release, while much better genre contemporaries (‘Stranger than Fiction’, ‘Hors de prix’) go straight to the video store, this makes you pretty grumpy. Just as grumpy as watching this movie.