New In Town

Zellweger swaps high heels for gumboots in New in Town. Photo / Supplied

Rating:

* *

Verdict:

Not even the normally charming Zellweger can save this one.

Renee Zellweger stars alongside Harry Connick Jr. in this cute but standard and predictable romantic comedy by debut feature director Jonas Elmer.

Zellweger initially struggles to settle into her role, looking as out of place in this schmaltzy comedy as her character Lucy Hill does when she swaps her sophisticated Miami life for the freezing temperatures of small town Minnesota.

Lucy is a single, career-driven business woman - we know this because she wears power suits and totters around in high heels. On the fast track to becoming a vice-president at the food goods company she works for, Lucy volunteers to take the lead in the restructuring of a factory in New Ulm. What she doesn't realise is that she will actually have to go to New Ulm.

Arriving in a blizzard, the fish out-of-water routine promptly begins. Lucy's corporate jargon does nothing to win over the suspicious employees at the plant, her scrapbooking secretary Blanche (Siobhan Fallon) means well but is hardly the professional assistant she's used to, and the one person she needs on her side, local union rep Ted Mitchell (Connick), seems to be a truck-driving country bumpkin, who she offends on her first night in town.

Not surprisingly, everyone gradually warms to each other as Lucy adapts to her new environment, putting aside her city slicker attitude and corporate ideas. It's at this point that Zellweger's girl-next-door natural charm starts to show through.

Sweet and fun at times,

New in Town

is forgettable light entertainment, which thanks to a few slapstick gags you can see coming, to say the least, does provide a laugh or two. And there are endearing moments, mostly thanks to the oddball Minnesotans with their simple approach to life and thick Midwestern accents.

New in Town

is a frustrating film because the cast isn't bad, and you know that somewhere inside this straight-up Hollywood affair there was a quirky, genuinely heartfelt film just waiting to burst out. It's just that the average script didn't give it that chance.

Francesca Rudkin

Cast:

Renee Zellweger, J.K. Simmons, Harry Connick Jr.

Director:

Jonas Elmer

Running time:

97 mins

Rating:

PG (Contains Sexual References)