Something New

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).

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!"

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."

First off, this movie is NOT about a shortage of black men. In fact, there are plenty of black men in this movie: husbands, brothers, boyfriends, guys at Starbucks, club-goers. It just so happens that the main character Kenya, a black woman, falls in love with a white man. What's the big freakin deal?!?! To repeat, this movie is not about a shortage of black men; it never claims to be. It's a love story and one that is complicated by race. I thought the issues they had to deal with as a couple were very real, particularly Kenya's issues with her job.

I can totally relate to the Kenya character and I can easily think of 10 other black women who probably can too. This film was refreshing; it was so nice to see a smart, successful black woman as the main character of a movie. GO SEE IT!

I just watched "Something New" on DVD, and was quite pleasantly surprised. I was expecting to see the same old rehash of a spent subject. But, this movie and its fabulous script was very real and some of the experiences depicted, on point. I am a black woman married to a white man, and while neither my family or his ever had problems with our relationship, society wasn't buying it. But, it's really amazing how much color fades to the back as love moves to the fore. We enjoy watching these kinds of things together and with our sons (now adults and married too) because it; (one) reminds us how beneficial it is to listen to your heart and not to people who aren't in it, and (two) how others can come to appreciate your relationship if they're given time to adjust. The only thing I wish they'd shown was more of Bryan's family/friends or his neighborhood and how they would react to such a relationship. They only showed a brief glimpse of Bryan's father and we wished they'd explored that side a little better. But all and all it was totally worth the time.