'New In Town' is a hoot dontcha’ know

“New In Town” – 3 out 5 stars

Ty Hampton
Critic’s Corner

City girl Renee Zellweger and her supporting cast of merry Minnesotans make this fish-out-of-water romantic comedy a keeper, you betcha!

With Zellweger’s quirky natured humor, Harry Connick Jr.’s charm, and J.K. Simmons’ classic one-liners like “Shut up you crazy old Hoot Owl!,” and,“Holy beer and cheese soup!” – this flick truly has a little bit of something for everybody.

Lucy Hill (Zellweger) is a cutthroat, corporate woman from sunny Miami who gets a sudden – and unwanted – change of scenery when the company bigwigs send her up north to play the grim-reaper and layoff half the staff at a factory in rural Minnesota. What seems like an easy task for this career-driven modern woman turns out to be a lot more than she bargained for as this tough little town plays hardball – the Minnesota way.

Zellweger may not have been quite as funny as her Bridget Jones romantic comedy character in those films, but I felt the supporting cast made up for that and then some. Simmons (“Spider Man I-III”, “Juno”, “Burn After Reading”) plays the long-time factory foreman who isn’t about to nudge for some out-of-towner. His down-home demeanor and comments add a wealth of color to the film.

On top of that Siobhan Fallon (“Baby Mamma” and “Men In Black”) and acclaimed actress France Conroy (“Six Feet Under”) are a supporting knock out punch as two riffing Minnesota wives who befriend Lucy and teach her everything they know – except for their top-secret, beloved tapioca pudding recipe of course.

This was also Danish filmmaker Jonas Elmer’s mainstream big screen debut and I think he did exceptionally well showing the bitter cold of the great north and the tough grit of the blue-collared people that inhabit this country.

This movie is still far from perfect though. One drawback for me was that there are some cheesy, predictable cookie-cutter romantic moments in this film as opposed to something -- I don’t know – real. But it’s a common of the rom-com genre.

Then there is the fact that the folksy Minnesota jokes about their goofy accents, overly friendly nature, etc., was already done in film – and done much better – in a Cohen Brothers movie called “Fargo.” This movie feels like Zellweger’s “Bridget Jones” series but Americanized in “Sweet Home Alabama” fashion combined with new versions of old Fargo jokes.

I’m not saying the humor isn’t still funny, because it definitely is and it doesn’t get old – it’s just been done before.

And don’t just take my word for it, I saw this quasi chick-flick with two girls, one of which gave it 4 stars and the other gave it 2.5. I give this movie somewhere in the middle for the romantic comedy genre with a 3 star rating out of five stars.

It’s rated (PG) for language and some suggestive material. “New In Town” is now showing at the Showboat 2 in Polson at 4, 7, and 9 p.m. nightly.