tek's rating: ¾

New in Town (PG)
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Renée Zellweger plays a woman named Lucy Hill, who worked for some corporation in Miami. One of the company's holdings was a factory in New Ulm, Minnesota, which they were thinking of shutting down. However, there was this new product they wanted to make, for which they were going to repurpose the factory. They sent Lucy there to oversee the changes that would have to be made, including laying off about half the employees. However, the layoffs couldn't happen until the factory had been converted, which would require new equipment which apparently never even got there. While waiting, she didn't tell anyone about the planned layoffs (though she did eventually fire the foreman). Lucy didn't really like Minnesota or any of the people she met there, including her secretary, Blanche Gunderson (who was actually quite friendly). But in particular, she didn't get along with the union rep, Ted Mitchell (Harry Connick, Jr.). So of course, we know they'll end up falling in love. And of course we know she'll eventually warm up to the whole town.

Um... I guess I don't know what else to say. Don't really want to spoil anything. I will say I didn't put my review under "romantic," because I didn't quite feel like the romance was central to the plot, though I guess it was close to the center. I also feel like the issues that put Lucy and Ted at odds in the beginning were never really resolved, but rather just sort of ignored, once certain plot points caused them to stop hating each other. Which I see as kind of irresponsible writing; they may have things in common, but they definitely still have some important differences, as well. Nevertheless, the movie was reasonably amusing and had some heart (yes, even cliched plots can have heart). So... I enjoyed it enough that I didn't feel my 97 minutes were wasted.


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