Widespread Depression
“If Frank Capra were to make a movie today, it would probably look a lot like New in Town,” writes Hollywood & Fine’s Marshall Fine. “Of course, Frank Capra is dead. Then again, so is this movie.
“Certainly, you can feel the creative team behind this film trying to channel Capra, in a desperate voodoo sort of way. They’ve even got the economy on their side, with its brutalizing effect on the working class – to parallel Capra’s Depression-era classics.
“On the surface, the elements are there: It’s a comedy set during an economic downturn, about a corporate shark (Renee Zellweger) who discovers she has a heart just when she’s assigned to downsize a factory in a rural Minnesota town.
“But the script by Kenneth Rance and C. Jay Cox feels as though it was written by computer software programmed with joke algorithms. There’s no actual sense of humor at work. Jonas Elmer directs as though English is his second language — oh, wait, it is.”
Here’s Joe Leydon‘s Variety pan.
No big surprise here. Capra is hugely overrated, Zellweger has lost all taste, and the story sucks.
As of this morning, it still had a 0% on rottentomatoes. That seems about right.
This thing looks horrendous — the TV spots actually quote somebody calling it “Bridget Jones goes to Fargo”.
Jeff runs a negative post about a “women’s picture”? I’m shocked, SHOCKED I tell ya!
Forget Zellweger’s taste, why can’t Harry Connick Jr. get a decent film career going?
“On the surface, the elements are there: It’s a comedy set during an economic downturn, about a corporate shark (Renee Zellweger) who discovers she has a heart just when she’s assigned to downsize a factory in a rural Minnesota town.”
Sound like a comedy version of This Property Is Condemned, with Renee Zellweger playing the Robert Redford role.
the 1/19 issue of the new yorker carried tad friend’s extensive article on tim palen and the marketing of lionsgate films (including this one)…after reading that, i’m surprised it made it to the screen at all……
Who cares what the critics say.
Didn’t they all pan Paul Blart?
Obviously, they are way out of touch with a populace who wants to ‘escape’. No wonder they’re all getting laid off.
BurmaShave Author Profile Page says …
Forget Zellweger’s taste, why can’t Harry Connick Jr. get a decent film career going?
Burma,
MGM doesn’t exist anymore.
As of this moment, I believe One Missed Call holds the record for the most reviews resulting in a zero fresh rating (I think 72 reviews?)… we’ll see if this one can take the record.
“If Frank Capra were to make a movie today, it would look a lot like NEW IN TOWN”
Boy, that’s insulting to Capra. For starters, his heroines are usually much more nuanced and tough than the Bridget Jones clone Zellweger looks to be playing here.
Nevermind… it’s up to 11% fresh.
Movie fan09, I don’t follow. Probably something I’m not privy to?
BurmaShave: I think Movie Fan meant that they don’t make those old great movie musicals anymore. At least I think that’s what he meant. I also wish we could see Harry’s career really take off.
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