Review of Something New (2006) by Alyelle — 06 Mar 2006

Not sure what the hype is. This was a HORRIBLE movie with no sunstantive plot. What we got in the previews before he movie's the release is exactly what we got in the theatre, only the previews spared us all the LONG, DRAWN-OUT, and POINTLESS scenes that only repeated what we already gathered withing the first 10 minutes of the movie: She wants a black man, falls for a white man, finds a good black man.

but realized the white man is her soul mate. SURPRISE! I love Sanaa Lathan, but I'm tired of her playing the same personality role in all the romantic comedies she does. "Alien vs. Predator" was a break for the norm for her.

Unfortunately "Something New" was much more of the same, leaving her void of any real range and depth. The supporting characters were also useless-- Donald Faison and Alfre Woodard were especially disappointing.

Their roles were so exaggerated and out-of-character and context that they both came across as bad actors. Surely even they didn't believe that the characters they played would actually say some of the things that were scripted for them to say! For instance, in the real world, a mother as stuck-up and bougoisie as they tried to portray Alfre Woodard's character would most likely applaud, if nor prefer, her daughter's choice to be with a white man.

Surely a woman who couldn't wait to leave Africa when visiting would not be appalled by her daughter dating a white man. Moreover, a woman of Kenya's success in a white male dominated profession would not have been so uncomfortable in a coffeeshop with a white man! Surely she's taken her white clients to lunch or dinner in public! Another ridiculous scenario was when Kenya bumped into Brian at the wedding and Brian had a date with him! No high-class, educated, professional BLACK woman would have "lost it" to the extent of having an asthma attack and griping in the Rabbi's office while the wedding was going on.

If we are really to believe these four women were professional black women, we have to see the discrepancy in their behavior during the wedding. I was appalled when one of them yelled out "black ashy babies" while the wedding was commencing outside! Either your charcters are classy/sophisticated, or they are ghetto-- they can't be both! The script was just too poorly written for the movie to have real substance.

And, the Spike-Lee-esque camera tricks were aggravating, particularly the table scene when the four friends were talking about what they want in a man. We circled that table the entire scene-- I was dizzy! It was effective the first few seconds as each of the 4 characters spoke, but it didn't need to last that long.

Furthermore, some of the scenes look like they were shot in 16mm with the same cheap bolex cameras I used my freshman year in film school! This was a low-budget movie with a low-budget outcome on the the silver screen.

Save your money. Wait 'til someone else rents it on DVD and watch it with them. By the way, I was going to give this movie a 1, but I bumped my score up two points because Simon Baker gave the only outstanding, realistic, substantive performance.

I'm looking forward to seeing much more of him.