1. Laurn

   9

   really enjoyed it. covered material (racial issues from the black perspective) excellently.

   • Helpful? 1 of 1 users said Yes.
2. MarkB.

   8

   Sadly, the worse-than-mediocre box office of this Would-Be 2006 Valentine's Day Must-See will reduce it to a Trivial Pursuit question a few years from now: "What film starred and was directed by two different women named Sanaa?" That's a real shame, because Sanaa Hamri's account of Kenya (Sanaa Lathan, wonderful in Love and Basketball and about as credible an action heroine as Alien vs. Predator had any right to expect), an appealing but somwhat hidebound professional African-American woman seeking a relationship with an IBM--Ideal Black Man--but develops one with a hunky, laid-back landscape gardener (Simon Baker, resembling an amalgam of Paul Walker and Gilligan's Island's Russell Johnson) who's markedly deficient in one-third of the acronym, is abundantly sweet, smart and subtly subversive. If you had a few problems with the target choices of Cedric the Entertainer's take-no-prisoners, gleefully non-p.c. rants in Barbershop, be aware that this film's first 15 minutes feature a VERY frank conversation between four girlfriends in which nothing's sacred--not Jesse Jackson and certainly not the Muslim religion (a very risky thing to be joking about these days, even if you're NOT a Danish cartoonist!) While Hamri and screenwriter Kriss Turner certainly don't ignore the unfortunate reality that Black businesswomen have to work twice as hard to be considered as good at their jobs as their White counterparts (love that shot where Kenya is meeting with a White client who, even after she tells him that she's the one he'll be working with, disbelievingly looks out the door to see who else will be joining her), they also make gardener Brian the more sympathetic of the two. In fact, he's treated so condescendingly (if not downright rudely) by Kenya's somewhat pretentious mom (Alfre Woodard), hypocritical brother (Donald Faison), most of her friends (and enen, sometimes, Kenya herself!) that if White characters were treating a Black individual this way in another film, audiences of both races would be understandably and justifiably outraged. Not only do Turner and Hamri avoid all the obvious mistakes, evasions and copouts (Brian ISN'T too perfect to be true, a Black yuppie interested in Kenya who's set up as the Other Man isn't portrayed as a buffoon, and even Kenya's mother and brother are allowed to have moments of compassion and wisdom), but Hamri's direction is extraordinarily graceful. She's wonderful at handling the reactions of disinterested background figures and extras, and includes an incredibly lovely, profound and poignant sequence the morning after Kenya's and Brian's first night together; both are bathed in a yellowish light that makes their skin tones seem absolutely identical. Entertainment Weekly's film critic Owen Gleiberman has been widely quoted in ads for Brokeback Mountain as saying that Ang Lee's multiple-Oscar-nominated gem has the power to change hearts. So, too, in its own quiet, under-the-radar way, does Something New.… Expand

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3. RossC.

   8

   Wow, an intelligent comedy about interracial dating. It could have delved deeper into the multitude of issues involved when two people of different races get together. Smartly, instead of getting bogged down by too many particulars, it sticks to the struggle of the main character making a personal decision that is, unfortunately, mucked up by social stereotyping and prejudice. A fun trip to the cinema that will spark discussion after the credits have rolled. What a treat.… Expand

   • Helpful? 1 of 1 users said Yes.
4. Alyelle

   3

   Not sure what the hype is. This was a HORRIBLE movie with no sunstantive plot. What we got in the previews before he movie's the release is exactly what we got in the theatre, only the previews spared us all the LONG, DRAWN-OUT, and POINTLESS scenes that only repeated what we already gathered withing the first 10 minutes of the movie: She wants a black man, falls for a white man, finds a good black man. but realized the white man is her soul mate. SURPRISE! I love Sanaa Lathan, but I'm tired of her playing the same personality role in all the romantic comedies she does. "Alien vs. Predator" was a break for the norm for her. Unfortunately "Something New" was much more of the same, leaving her void of any real range and depth. The supporting characters were also useless-- Donald Faison and Alfre Woodard were especially disappointing. Their roles were so exaggerated and out-of-character and context that they both came across as bad actors. Surely even they didn't believe that the characters they played would actually say some of the things that were scripted for them to say! For instance, in the real world, a mother as stuck-up and bougoisie as they tried to portray Alfre Woodard's character would most likely applaud, if nor prefer, her daughter's choice to be with a white man. Surely a woman who couldn't wait to leave Africa when visiting would not be appalled by her daughter dating a white man. Moreover, a woman of Kenya's success in a white male dominated profession would not have been so uncomfortable in a coffeeshop with a white man! Surely she's taken her white clients to lunch or dinner in public! Another ridiculous scenario was when Kenya bumped into Brian at the wedding and Brian had a date with him! No high-class, educated, professional BLACK woman would have "lost it" to the extent of having an asthma attack and griping in the Rabbi's office while the wedding was going on. If we are really to believe these four women were professional black women, we have to see the discrepancy in their behavior during the wedding. I was appalled when one of them yelled out "black ashy babies" while the wedding was commencing outside! Either your charcters are classy/sophisticated, or they are ghetto-- they can't be both! The script was just too poorly written for the movie to have real substance. And, the Spike-Lee-esque camera tricks were aggravating, particularly the table scene when the four friends were talking about what they want in a man. We circled that table the entire scene-- I was dizzy! It was effective the first few seconds as each of the 4 characters spoke, but it didn't need to last that long. Furthermore, some of the scenes look like they were shot in 16mm with the same cheap bolex cameras I used my freshman year in film school! This was a low-budget movie with a low-budget outcome on the the silver screen. Save your money. Wait 'til someone else rents it on DVD and watch it with them. By the way, I was going to give this movie a 1, but I bumped my score up two points because Simon Baker gave the only outstanding, realistic, substantive performance. I'm looking forward to seeing much more of him.… Collapse

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