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New in Town

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(Redirected from New In Town) 2009 film by Jonas Elmer 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		Gold Circle Films
Epidemic Pictures
The Safran Company
Edmonds Entertainment
Distributed byLionsgate (North America; through Maple Pictures in Canada)
Mandate Pictures (International)
Release date
  • 30 January 2009 (2009-01-30)
Running time97 minutes
CountriesUnited States
Canada
LanguageEnglish
Budget$8 million
Box office$29 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. The film opened to negative reviews but was a financial success grossing $30 million against its $8 million budget.

Plot

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 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 contract 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

Reception

Box office

New in Town grossed $16.7 million domestically (United States and Canada) and $12.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $29.0 million, against a budget of $8.0 million. Released on 30 January 2009, it ranked at No. 8 at the domestic box office for its first week – its only week in the Top 10.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 28% of 171 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "Clichéd and short on charm, New In Town is a pat genre exercise that fails to bring the necessary heat to its Minnesota setting." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 29 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.

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."

DVD

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.

Soundtrack

Songs featured in the film:

References

  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 (8 January 2008). "Hollywood heat comes to local Chilled in Miami shoot". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  4. "New in Town". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 21 December 2024.Edit this at Wikidata
  5. "New in Town | Domestic Weekly". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  6. "New in Town". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 21 December 2024. Edit this at Wikidata
  7. "New in Town". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  8. Hunter, Allan (27 February 2009). "New in town". Films. Daily Express. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  9. Bradshaw, Peter (27 February 2009). "New in Town (2009)". Film. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 December 2024.

External links

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