Jump to content

New in Town

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see New in Town (disambiguation).
New in Town
Directed byJonas Elmer
Written byC. Jay Cox
Ken Rance
Produced byPeter Safran
Darryl Taja
Tracey E. Edmonds
Paul Brooks
Phyllis Laing
Andrew Paquin
StarringRenée Zellweger
Harry Connick, Jr.
J.K. Simmons
Frances Conroy
Siobhan Fallon Hogan
CinematographyChris Seager
Edited byTroy Takaki
Music byJohn Swihart
Production
companies
Distributed byLionsgate (North America; through Maple Pictures in Canada[1])
Mandate Pictures (International)[2]
Release date
  • January 30, 2009 (2009-01-30)
Running time
97 minutes
CountriesUnited States
Canada
LanguageEnglish
Budget$8 million
Box office$30 million

New in Town is a 2009 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Jonas Elmer, starring Renée Zellweger, Harry Connick Jr., and Siobhan Fallon Hogan. It was filmed in Winnipeg and Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada, and in Los Angeles and South Beach, Miami, Florida.[3] The film opened to negative reviews but was a financial success grossing $30 million against its $8 million budget.

Plot

[edit]

High-powered consultant Lucy Hill, who loves her upscale Miami lifestyle, is sent to New Ulm, Minnesota, to oversee the restructuring of a food manufacturing plant. The factory is meant to add Japanese automation, and reduce staff by at least 50 percent.

After leaving sunny Miami and arriving in cold Minnesota, she finds a frosty reception from the weather, the locals, icy roads and a culture she has difficulty dealing with. As an example, before her first day at the factory she proceeds to insult a Ted Mitchell, the guest of honor at a home-cooked meal organized by the plant's secretary. The next day, Ted turns out to be the head of the workers' union. Likewise, she antagonizes the waitress in the local hangout, Flo; Flo turns out to be the ex-wife of the plant's foreman who she will fire. She learns to appreciate the locals and their way of life, and vice versa. In one of various scenes, Ted in his pickup truck rescues Lucy from freezing when she gets stuck in the snow as she tries to evade a cow wandering on the road; later Lucy's knowledge about fashion and style helps Ted's 13 year old daughter to get ready for her first dance. Eventually, Lucy kisses Ted as they acknowledge their mutual attraction.

When Lucy is ordered to close down the plant, which will put the entire community out of work, she's forced to reconsider her goals and priorities, and find a way to save the town. After getting another one big bowl of tapioca pudding, prepared according to her secretary's secret recipe of tapioca pudding, she gets the bright idea to have the company make and market the product, with their former yogurt production line and the existing personnel.

When the tapioca becomes extremely successful, Lucy's company wants to shut down the small Minnesota plant, which can not produce enough for the national market they envision. However, instead Lucy puts together a group of financiers who purchase the plant, with a construction that will gradually transfer ownership to the employees. As part of the deal Lucy becomes the CEO. Lucy announces the purchase to the employees gathered on the plant floor, including a now clean-shaven Ted who pledges the cooperation of the Union. Lucy and Ted seal the deal with a kiss, applauded by everyone.

Cast

[edit]

Release

[edit]

The film was released at 1,941 theaters on January 30, 2009 and grossed in its opening day approx. $2.4 million to $2.5 million.[4] By the end of the first 3-day weekend, it had grossed an estimated $6.75 million, placing it 8th for the weekend in gross box office ticket sales.

Box office

[edit]

The film grossed $16,734,283 at the domestic box office, $12,276,534 at the foreign box office for a total gross of $30,010,817 worldwide.[5]

Critical reception

[edit]

New in Town received mostly negative reviews from critics. The film has a 27% approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 171 reviews with an average rating of 4.2/10, with the consensus: "Clichéd and short on charm, New In Town is a pat genre exercise that fails to bring the necessary heat to its Minnesota setting." Allan Hunter of the Daily Express has said, "Predictable and uninspired, it is one more example of the dumb comedies that Hollywood is churning out at an alarming rate." Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian was also critical, stating "Renée Zellweger's rabbity, dimply pout – surely the strangest facial expression in Hollywood – simpers and twitches out of the screen in this moderate girly flick that adheres with almost religious fanaticism to the feelgood romcom handbook."[6]

DVD

[edit]

The "making of..." feature on the DVD documents that the cast and crew survived bitterly cold temperatures of below −50 °F (−46 °C) in Manitoba, which sometimes resulted in malfunctions of cameras and other equipment.[citation needed]

Soundtrack

[edit]

Songs featured in trailer/TV spots:

Songs featured in the film:

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Kelly, Brendan (2 November 2007). "Maple watches over Gold Circle films". Variety. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  2. ^ Hazelton, John (22 January 2009). "New In Town". Screen International. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  3. ^ King, Randall (January 7, 2008). "Hollywood heat comes to local Chilled in Miami shoot". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved March 3, 2010.
  4. ^ McClintock, Pamela (January 31, 2009). "Box office crown 'Taken' by Fox". Variety. Retrieved February 1, 2009.
  5. ^ "New in Town (2009)". Box Office Mojo. February 23, 2009. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
  6. ^ "New in Town (2009)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 13, 2021.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=New_in_Town&oldid=1251399788"