New in Town is excruciatingly predictable
Cast: Renee ZellwegerDirection: Jonas Elmer
A foot massage, cleaning out your cupboard, perhaps some alone time with bubble-wrap. These are just a few things you could be doing that I absolutely promise will give you more joy than watching the Renee Zellweger starrer New In Town.
It's an excruciatingly predictable romantic-comedy about a high-powered executive from Miami (played by Zellweger) who's dispatched to a cold and snowy small town in Minnesota to downsize a yoghurt manufacturing plant.
Adhering faithfully to the feel-good rom-com guidebook, our protagonist first finds the place unsophisticated and dull, but love blossoms, and soon she is relishing the small-town life.
With gags involving freezing temperatures that result in stiff nipples, and factory workers indulging in a sloppy tapioca food-fight, New In Town strains for genuine laughs. In place of characters you get your standard stereotypes, and Zellweger herself – once a fine comic actress – brings neither warmth nor cheap giggles.
This is that rare comedy that has but one comic moment – the one in which Zellweger arrives at work the morning after accidentally shooting a man in his backside, only to be greeted by a whole factory floor of workers sporting dartboards on their bottoms.
I'm going with a generous one out of five for New In Town. Seriously, clip your toenails instead of wasting your time on this film.
Rating: 1 / 5