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New in Town

Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 15 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Romance
Written by:
Kenneth Rance
C. Jay Cox
Directed by: Jonas Elmer
Release Date:
Theatrical: January 30, 2009
DVD: May 26, 2009
Running Time: 96 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Language(s): English | Spanish
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for brief strong language
Starring Renee Zellweger, Harry Connick Jr., J.K. Simmons, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Frances Conroy, Mike O'Brien, and Rashida Jones
Lucy Hill is an ambitious, up and coming executive living in Miami. She loves her shoes, she loves her cars and she loves climbing the corporate ladder. When she is offered a temporary assignment - in the middle of nowhere - to restructure a manufacturing plant, she accepts the opportunity, knowing a big promotion is close at hand. What begins as a straight forward job assignment becomes a life changing experience as Lucy discovers greater meaning in her life and most unexpectedly, the man of her dreams. (Lionsgate)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
A gentle, traditional (like, from the last century) romantic comedy.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak
It resorts to a story line so predictable that its willingness to go so earnestly into unoriginal territory is doubly disappointing since its first half had so much more going for it.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
The first Hollywood feature from Danish filmmaker Jonas Elmer, New in Town is so choppy that it would seem to have been edited with a pickax.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Jason Buchanan
It has a certain Midwestern charm that settles calmly in the stomach, making the viewer feel warm, comfortable, and quick to smile.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
As for the locals, they speak like extras from "Fargo," although, on this go-round, that weird Swedish accent has somehow lost its power to amuse.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
Zellweger takes an otherwise passable mainstream comedy and all but ruins it with her lack of effort.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Do you like this sort of rom-com? It's a fair example of its type, not good, but competent.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
New in Town is "The Pajama Game" without the songs, the laughs or the bare-knuckled realism.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
New In Town grinds its plucky protagonist through a predictable arc from dispassionate big-city ice queen to redeemed small-town tenderheart.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
You've seen New in Town before, and you've seen it done better. Still, it's a sweet-hearted bit of anemia, pleasant and obvious, and there are a few honest laughs to it.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Brian Miller
The movie wrong-foots Zellweger from the start. She's not enough the ice queen, like Sigourney Weaver in "Working Girl," for us to accept her transition into adorable Melanie Griffith.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
The movie has little to recommend it and more than a few things to encourage those who pursue quality cinema to stay away.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Connie Ogle
The ghastly first half of this romantic comedy -- is as close to unwatchable as any moment in "Bride Wars." The fact that it stars Renée Zellweger just makes it harder to bear.
Read Full Review >Premiere Olivia Putnal
Although it wasn't quite the comedy we had hoped for, the idea behind it is pretty cute; we just wished the laughs weren't so awkward and forced.
Read Full Review >NPR Bob Mondello
There's no chemistry between Zellweger and Connick, and there's not a moment in which anything anyone does feels remotely plausible.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
Watching Ms. Zellweger’s joyless performance, you have to wonder what happened to this formerly charming actress who not so long ago seemed on the verge of becoming a softer, more vulnerable Shirley MacLaine.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
On second thought, maybe just about everyone should stay away from this drearily cheerful little picture that isn't nearly as funny or as heartwarming -- or even as topical, given the economic climate -- as it thinks it is.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
The laughs and emotional moments are so weak that director Jonas Elmer has no choice but to tweak them with music cues and bland guitar-rock.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
Strictly old hat -- and a poorly assembled hat at that.
Read Full Review >Variety Joe Leydon
It doesn't help that Zellweger, in an unfortunate attempt to make the aud appreciate her character's uptightness, spends many of the early scenes moving about as stiff as a flagpole in January.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey
The new comedy is flat, the romance is listless, the pacing is sluggish, and the fish-out-of-water flops -- flip-flop, flip-flop, I can hear it still.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
Seriously, though, watching New in Town left me feeling as pained as Zellweger, playing Lucy Hill, looks.
Read Full Review >Slate Dana Stevens
One of many burdensome tasks required of the viewer of this fish-out-of-water love story. The toughest of all: caring about any of the characters in this smug, check-off-the-boxes comedy.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
To say that New in Town is the worst movie of this fledgling year is to damn it with faint praise. It may be one of the worst movies of any year. Not content to be merely inane and predictable, it is downright insulting, humorlessly deriding those who choose to live in rural America, labor in factories or have a strong Christian faith.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
This crap is supposed to be the chick flick antidote to Super Bowl fever. Ha!
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
The only point of interest in New in Town is sociological. In the current economic climate, this comedy about workers whose livelihood is rescued by a benevolent boss represents the ultimate wish-fulfillment fantasy. Don't spend your hard-earned discretionary cash on it.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
As a comic fable for hard times, New in Town is irredeemably moronic.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Joe Neumaier
A romantic comedy that's neither romantic nor funny.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
New in Town might have better played on the less demanding stage of, say, a Lifetime made-for-TV movie.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
It's unfunny at best and borderline-amateur at worst, notwithstanding the desperate efforts of Renée Zellweger.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 4.2 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Bob gave it a0:
Awful. Horrible. I'm from New Ulm and that's why I rented the movie. COMPLETELY UNREALISTIC AND INNACURATE. Not to mention a truly dopey, stupid movie. I like Rene Zellweger and HCJ, but ... what were they thinking?
gary w gave it a6:
As bad movies go, I somewhat enjoyed it. Lowered expectations always help. And not paying good money to see it at a theater helps as well. For the reviewers who say there is nothing funny about it at all, that's simply not true.. There Are some funny scenes, and I was able to to overlook the bad, relax and enjoy.
Jay H gave it a6:
Very predictable romantic comedy, but it still entertains, especially if you are in the mood for a feel good comedy and the cast is very enjoyable. Mindless fluff, but fun.
hughie gave it a7:
Not great, but much more entertaining than the bulk of these reviews would lead you to believe.
Chad S. gave it a4:
No worldly sophisticate by any stretch of the imagination, Marge Gunderson(Frances McDormand) displayed all the tell-tale signs of living in a small-town, but she was smart, on her own terms, funny voice notwithstanding. The Brainerd detective is the sort of character that's sorely missing in "New in Town", a person who could put the city girl in her place. The waitress tries. At the diner, the waitress ridicules Lucy(Renee Zellweger) for believing that the town of New Ulm celebrates a holiday which pays homage to the gopher. But really, the joke is on the old woman and the diner patrons, because that's the extent of the insularity Lucy surmises these rural folks embody. This company henchwoman makes the Bill Murray character in Harold Ramis' "Groundhog Day" seem congenial. At some point, however, Lucy's condesension will come to a halt, and "voila", the people she despises suddenly becomes the people she cherishes. But the manner in which Lucy goes about her transformation seems even more unearned than what is usually part and parcel of the rom-com formula. She simply gets into a car accident and emerges from the accident, a changed woman. This near-death experience negates the occasion for these Minnesota denizens to prove their mettle as Lucy's equals, and truly earn her respect. Instead of feeling contempt for these "lowly" people, now she pities them. Now she has to save them; her dear, dear underlings. Thanks to an undiagnosed concussion, this professional woman, on the fast track to VP stewardship, can now enjoy the simple things in life, like put on a scarf and join the carollers, as they all hold candles in open-mouthed earnestness around a lighted Christmas tree. For "New in Town" to transcend its initial patronizing attitude towards country life, Blanche Gunderson(Sibohan Fallon) needed to launch her "Tapioca Pudding Boom" without Lucy's marketing know-how. As for Ted(Harry Connick Jr.), he has the steering wheel column to thank for his good fortune.
kg m. gave it a5:
Renee Zellweger (Lucy) lost a lot of weight and looks fantastic in her designer clothes and shoes. That said, this is your typical ‘fish out of water’, uncaring corporate greed, morality play and it’s done in cookie-cutter fashion and offers absolutely nothing new. What redeems this movie are the Minnesota accents, the authentic Midwestern snow, and the undercurrent of Christianity and family values done in a non-condescending way. Not quite sure why you would bring this out in late January as opposed to the Christmas season but perhaps they figured that this movie wouldn’t stand out. Well, it doesn’t, but that’s OK.
