Something New

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.

"Something New" is a charming chick flick crossed with the BUPpie (Black Urban Professional) genre, like "The Best Man" and "The Woodsman."

While those guy films featured Sanaa Lathan, she really gets to shine here, and her chemistry with the actresses playing her three girlfriends is wonderful. Unusual for a chick flick, the girlfriends all have believable, non-media jobs given their post-graduate degreed education and competence, including lawyer and pediatrician, and are at age-appropriate, mid-'30's points in their ambitious careers. I've never watched UPN-type sit coms like "Girlfriends" to know if the portrayal of their entertaining interchanges, amidst a whirling camera, is unusual, particularly about the woes of dating, but they do sound like a racially charged take on "Sex and the City". I think it is probably unusual that we get to see Lathan's "Kenya McQueen" substantively at work, dealing with subtle issues of racism and sexism (including much discussion of "the black tax"). We absolutely believe she is a workaholic who has just made her first big investment, in a bare house.

But key is that Lathan and Simon Baker are wonderful together and that the stops and starts, hots and cools of their relationship are believable. I find it amusing that non-TV watching movie critics refer much to his appearance in "L.A. Confidential" as that was barely a cameo, while he registered as a hunk in several seasons of "The Guardian" and a hero in "Land of the Dead". But this is the first we've seen him as all get out romantic and the camera loves his rugged, scruffy look, as he's an outdoorsy landscaper.

Their courting and post-coital scenes are wonderfully sweet, the best such sensual scenes since "Bull Durham". I particularly liked the intimate, in tight close-ups, curiosity of their inter-racial discussions (though we only learn about her Afro-centric academic family and not his ethnically neutral one), leading to him committing what Oprah says is the number one no-no: never ask an African-American woman about her hair. At least we learn about his business background and also got one interchange where he seemed like a normal guy and not just too and not just too world-music listening, community garden volunteering, etc. good to be true.

I was glad that her father finally had a speech about historic diversity, sounding like Henry Louis Gates in the PBS series "African-American Lives", because even though debut director Sanaa Hamri and scripter Kriss Turner developed this with Lathan in mind, according to her interviews, she seems as black as bi-racial Halle Berry (as opposed to her darker-skinned friends), as I wondered why her hair au natural wasn't even curlier.

The film goes way out of its way to be fair to African-American men, including a too long stand-up comic routine. It's not easy finding a reason for a woman not to hook up with Blair Underwood.

I'll have to trust that the representations of African-American cotillion culture, including snappy choreography, were correct, because the film was incorrect in having a wedding of, ironically, their mutual friend in a synagogue, as they are not used for such personal events. I hope it wasn't for the sake of a joke by ladies in scanty summer dresses about being in a rabbi's office.

The cinematography has harsh contrasts in the California sun, which Baker has said in interviews was due to the differences between skin color.

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).

SOMETHING NEW is one of those films that many will pass by thinking it is just another Chick Flick with a twist. Well, this little movie may be a romantic comedy but it is well written (Kriss Turner), well directed (Sanaa Hamri), and very well acted and has some down to earth important observations about interpersonal relationships...and, oh yes, it deal with interracial issues, beautifully! Kenya (Sanaa Lathan - Best Man, Blade, The Wood, etc) is a beautiful Type A personality, an overachiever who is up for Partner in her Accounting Firm: she has no time to search for IMB (Important Black Man) as her list of qualifications is far too extensive. Her fellow professional girlfriends (Wendy Raquel Robinson, Golden Brooks and Taraji P. Henson - all superb!) encourage her to date to 'go with the flow' and a fellow business associate sets her up with a blind date - the very handsome, hunky, landscape architect Brian Kelly (Simon Baker - superb actor from Tasmania, Australia has starred in LA Confidential, Book of Love, The Ring Two, The Affair of the Necklace etc) - and despite the fact that Kenya refuses to consider dating any man who is not black, she does accept Brian's card and in no time hires him to landscape her new home.

The usual dating events occur: Simon is an educated, laid-back, tender, thoughtful, adventuresome male who happens to fall in love with the closely guarded Kenya; when introduced at parties Simon falls victim to prejudice form black men AND form Kenya's parents; Kenya gradually succumbs to Brian's charms and despite all misgivings they begin an affair. But peer pressures, work demands, and Kenya's self doubt jumble matters and she decides she must search for a black man. One 'just happens' to appear as Mark (Blair Underwood) and for a moment Kenya believes she has found her ideal - until her heart speaks up and she for the first time is honest with her emotions and follows her true heart's desire.

The apparent disparity between Kenya and Brian is handled in a sensitive and realistic way and Lathan and Baker have a sizzling screen chemistry. The supporting roles are in excellent hands: in addition to those mentioned above there are fine roles by Alfre Woodward, Earl Billings, Donald Faison, Mike Epps etc. This is a fine little film that approaches the touchy subject of black professional women who are unmarried ('42.4 Percent' was the working title) and for once shows an interracial film that is more a sound love story than a sermon. It is light, airy, important, and thoroughly entertaining! (This coming from a viewer who doesn't particularly care for Chick Flicks....!). Grady Harp