Uma Coisa Nova: As Surpresas do Coração

As a white, 60 year old retiree, I am a bit uncomfortable relating why I liked this movie so much, as I will probable say some politically incorrect things. But I enjoyed this movie for its thought provoking storytelling, so here are my thoughts.

I would think the Black Community (as I have heard Bill Cosby expounded many times) would love to see more stories about successful, professional people. The main character, and her girlfriend circle, seemed well grounded in their successful careers, but suffered real conflicted issues over their personal lives, the quest to find the "Ideal black Male" utmost on their minds. Fair enough! But, up pops an "Ideal White Male" and it is not easy to adapt their thinking. Their blind date meeting, the slow warming up, the problems that couples run into, were not earth breaking Romantic "comedy" ground. But the assimilation of a likable, white guy into the Black "experience" has some real impact. I felt the conversations rang true. Slow acceptance by her

friends seemed real. I was educated to the concept of the "Black tax" and the difficulty of "never having a day off from being Black". His request to "please take a night off from race issues" rang true from a person who wants to empathize and be supportive, but cannot really know the impact of the life. The fact that I am still thinking about the movie a few days later is meaningful (to me anyway!).

I wish the Mother character and probably the Brother as well, were more realistic in their haughtiness. Maybe the writer was looking for all attitudes to be explored, and, as likable as he was, the saintly Father may have been too good to be true. But the leads pulled off the underlying feeling that "love conquers all" and provided me with an entertaining, thoughtful couple of hours. It was the exact opposite of all those movies that I want "my two hours back!"

This film has some flaws. It has some moments that are just dreadful. It has entire scenes that would get a C- in a screen writing 101 class. Yet it's a wonderful film. Sanaa Lathan gives a superb performance, as does Simon Baker. Wendy Raquel Robinson, Alfrie Woodard, Russell Hornsby, Donald Faison and Blair Underwood are all wonderful, while Golden Brooks will probably (just barely) avoid be indicted for accepting payment for her "perfomance." (Most of the truly dreadful moments in the film involve her, which is odd as she is not at all a bad actress.) While the film has such flaws, it overcomes them with charm and intelligence, and the wonderful on screen pairing of the leads. Okay, so Kenya (Sanaa Lathan's character) gets what she wants far too easily - repeatedly - and so there's a needlessly absurd scene involving a white boy in a Mexican mariachi outfit at a black high society event, which in real life would be humiliating for everybody within six city blocks.

The film has something of value to say about race, about prejudice - black and white - and about following your heart and finding somebody to love. As a white boy married to an incredible black woman, I can tell you that the best twenty bucks I ever spent was in buying this film for my wife. It's brought her such joy and so many hours of happiness (she's incredible, sure, but she's also a major wacko - she'll watch the same film three time in one day for three days running and love it more each time), that I'm thinking of buying another TV/DVD player, just so I can leave this on 24/7 for her.

The point is, rent it, it's just great (except for the dreadful parts).

I will have to start by saying, I have never been in an interracial relationship but I am not opposed to them. However, I do have friends who have been an IR, so I'm not completely unexperienced with them. That said, some of the things in this film are unbelievable, or maybe its just me. Her girlfriends act as if having sex with a white man was some outlandish thing, like she had had sex with an alien or something. And the whole while I'm going---Jesus, the man is Caucasian, not a martian. I don't know any black women who would be like that, but again, that could be just me. And if it had been the other way around, if the white guy's friends had been like that, wide-eyed and shocked (which probably isn't untrue in actuality) I guarantee that would have been perceived as racist. Rightfully so.

I can't say that I rooted for Sanaa Lathan's character either. Don't get me wrong, I think she's a nice actress, but she was irritating in this film, so was her mother. Some of the issues addressed though in the film ring bitterly true, such as how a black woman might feel in white-dominated corporate America and how it might be difficult for her to find a man on her level, or man who truly wants her for her and not her money. All that said, I watched it until the end because I am a fan of Simon Baker. Its overall a good film, but the best IR flick remains "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner."

I am 51, single, and a black woman. I have seen this movie twice, once with my youngest single sister and the second time with another younger single sister. I paid full price each time and will see it for a third time with a married girlfriend. I like the subject matter and say it is about time, not just for the subject, but also that it did not portray us black sisters in a derogatory light. We can be more than hookers and gangsters and maids on the big screen. My sisters and I identify with Kenya and unfortunately, we are all in that percentage class of the unmarrieds.

It reminds me of the classic "Guess Who Is Coming to Dinner". I loved that movie too. It broke barriers. There are more relationships going on like this than we care to admit. My sisters and I would date a white man in a minute, if it was meant to be. Race isn't a preference. If we could each find one good man, he could be green and we would date him.

At the second showing, some in the audience clapped at the end, and we lingered for sometime afterwards and read all the credits. We really liked it and so much of it was true. The soundtrack is beautiful. I can't wait for the DVD and the CD soundtrack to be released. I fell "in love" with this movie. Love is more than color. The only thing that would have made me more love sick is if Brian was played by the hot and cute flavor of the day Matthew McConaughey!! I said it, yes I did!

Additional comment: Okay, I saw this movie for the third time and paid full price cause I loved it. It saddens me that this movie is not getting the PR it deserves. It's a hot topic, especially since it deals with us being seriously involved with a white man. The brothers have been doing this for years, yes years! Sisters, I say allow yourself to flip the script.

Geesehoward, to clarify something in your post: Sanaa's lover did not "assume" that she had a weave. It was after a night of lovemaking that he asked her about it as they lay in bed the next morning. I'm sure he was trying to run his fingers through her hair and found he was unable to.

I am a black woman who is married to a white man. I read the interview with Sanaa where she talked about living in Harlem and being terrified of holding his hand because she was afraid of the judgment. I felt as though she was writing my life story. Before we got married, my then boyfriend lived in Soho and I in Harlem. Walking around together in lower Manhattan, we got a few looks, but nothing even remotely close to the venom that was spit at us when we were together up in my neighborhood. People would stop dead in their tracks, hands on hips and say horrible things to us! And this is in the 21st Century! There were times I would actively dissuade my husband from showing me any affection in a Black environment because I didn't want the brothers to take it the wrong way and think it was an overt slap in their face-- you know, white man comes up in to the Black neighborhood to claim the Black woman while the Black man stands idly by. But after a time, I got over it. My man was just trying to love me. He was willing to take all the insults and stand by me and allow me to open myself up and let him in, so to speak. And I am so glad I did. I have been fortunate in having had positive relationships with all of the men I have dated seriously (who btw, were all Black). They all brought something special to the table. My husband just happened to come into my life at the right time when I was opening up to the idea of trying "something new". I have learned a lot from him, but he has also learned a lot from me. I think this movie did SO much in the way of allowing people to get a little more used to the idea that love comes in all shapes sizes and colors, and that it also comes with problems, depending on the type of relationship. Interracial relationships are going to always have family and societal disapproval, but guess what, everyone comes around eventually once they realized that it's not superficial, that there's true, honest love there. This is because people are just people, and if someone takes the time to get to know you, you discover all the things you have in common that have nothing to do with skin color. The moral of this extended post is this: After we had been dating for some time, my husband moved up to Harlem. Before you knew it, he was friends with everybody on the block and knew more people in my neighborhood than I did. That's because people are just afraid of what they don't know. Yes there is a lot of historical baggage attached to race in this country, but we can't keep schleping it around with us all the time, we've got to let it go, let it flow. I encourage all of you to see the movie. It was your typical predictable rom com, yes, where everything works out okay in the end, but it also has a lot to recommend it. I thought it was on point and funny and sad and all that good stuff. Go see it! (Plus it's the first studio film that's written, directed, produced and starred in by Black women!) You go ladies!