I saw Something New the other night and found it over all to be well-directed and well-acted. The two leads -- star Sanaa Lathan and newcomer Simon Baker look great together and they do have some chemistry.
The movie is about an ambitious, successful, smart 30-something black woman named Kenya living in L.A. from a wealthy family (father is a neurosurgeon, brother is an attorney at 20th century Fox) who seems to have everything except a man. She is looking for the IBM -- Ideal Black Man. On a difficult Valentine's Day out with the girls, they discuss a book called Let Go -- Love Flow in which the author encourages being more open.
The lead character has never been on a blind date and when a white co-worker offers to set her up, Kenya agrees. To her surprise, her date turns out to be white.
Without telling you the entire plot, I will tell you that race and class have its day here. Yet the movie turns the old stock characters of magical negro and free-spirited hippie chick on their heads in presenting Brian, a man who drives a funky old truck, walked away from an advertising job to work with his hands, listens to Arab pop music and likes flowers.
He patiently breaks down her barriers to him with unswerving love. She's way uptight -- a slave to her laptop-- and he crushes Mediterranean lavender in his hands for her to smell. It's a romantic and realistic story in a way especially when the inevitable love triangle arrives. Yet I had a couple of issues with the movie. One is that upper class African-Americans are apparently the most uptight, conservative and racist people living in L.A.? Hmmm...
Also, we never meet Brian's friends or see his home or meet his family. Surely their reaction to Kenya might be interesting for her character to experience. That seems strange and makes him more of a one-dimensional character. That's done enough to African-Americans. It's de-humanizing. We should know better not to do that to someone of another ethnicity.
Overall, though, Something New is a great comedic drama with heart that will leave you with something new to think about. Also, it's the first major motion picture directed by an African-American woman which also makes it worth your time. I expect we'll be seeing more from Sanaa Hamri soon. After all, Something New has made over $11 million in the U.S. box offices so far.
Green Leaf is excellent, imo.
Posted by: air jordan | November 12, 2010 at 03:32 AM