Something New (film)
Encyclopedia
Something New is a 2006
American
romantic
drama film
directed by Sanaa Hamri
. The screenplay by Kriss Turner
focuses on interracial relationships and traditional African American
family values
and social customs.
) is a successful, single African American woman who has sacrificed romance in order to pursue a career as a corporate finance manager. Her obsessive compulsive
desire for perfection and control has manifested itself in the bland, monochromatic
decor of her new home and the rigid rules she follows in her personal life. Urged to loosen up by her friends, Kenya accepts a blind date with landscape architect
Brian Kelly (Simon Baker
) arranged by her co-worker Leah Cahan (Katharine Towne
), who is in the process of planning the kind of wedding Kenya wants herself. The two meet at Starbucks
, and she is disturbed to discover Brian is white, so she quickly excuses herself and leaves.
The two unexpectedly meet again at a party at Leah's parents' home, where Brian landscaped the grounds. Impressed with his work, Kenya decides to hire him to renovate her unkempt backyard garden. As time passes, their employer-employee relationship evolves into a friendship and then love.
Although Brian is helping her feel more comfortable about her living environment, Kenya finds it difficult to dismiss her reservations about their romance. The opinions of her girlfriends Cheryl (Wendy Raquel Robinson
), Nedra (Taraji P. Henson
), and Suzette (Golden Brooks
), her upper class
parents Joyce (Alfre Woodard
) and Edmond (Earl Billings
), and her womanizing
younger brother Nelson (Donald Faison
) begin to have a deleterious effect and Brian's unwillingness to discuss issues of color drives them apart.
Nelson introduces his sister to someone she views as a more acceptable suitor, tax attorney Mark Harper (Blair Underwood
), who has just relocated to Los Angeles. The two begin to date, and while Joyce thoroughly approves, Edmond senses his daughter is not as happy as she was with Brian. Everything Kenya thought she wanted suddenly seems immaterial, and nothing Mark does ignites a spark between them. When the dissonance
she’s developed finally overwhelms her, Kenya chooses to reunite with Brian, no longer allowing her controlling nature and social norms
to dictate matters of the heart.
Kenya marries Brian amongst their closest friends and loved ones.
of the New York Times called the film "a pleasantly diverting romance . . . [in which] the chemistry between the leads is as unmistakable as the setup is contrived . . . The lovely Ms. Lathan . . . and the similarly attractive Mr. Baker . . . don't just look good together; they feel right in sync. Their easy, sensual rapport partly owes something to the generally sure hand of the film's director, Sanaa Hamri, making a fine feature debut, and something else, something indefinable, to the delectable mysteries of two bodies in cinematic motion."
Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
rated the film 3½ out of four stars and commented, "I found myself unexpectedly moved." He continued, "By the end, Something New delivers all the usual pleasures of a love story, and something more. The movie respects its subject and characters, and is more complex about race than we could possibly expect. With this film and the completely different but also observant Queen Latifah
comedy Last Holiday, black women are being paid a kind of attention they deserve but rarely get in the movies."
Kevin Crust of the Los Angeles Times
called the film "superficial and formulaic but pleasant enough to entertain and qualifies as intelligent and sophisticated by the current standard of Hollywood comedy." He added, "The movie nicely captures the area around Baldwin Hills, is crisply written by Kriss Turner and portrays the upper-middle class black community seldom seen in mainstream TV and film. However, the characterizations, even the leads, rarely rise above archetypes. The film's lack of depth as it oversimplifies the complexities of racism keep it from being anything other than a lightweight date movie."
Ruthe Stein of the San Francisco Chronicle
said, "The trouble with the movie is that it sometimes seems at odds with itself, vacillating between a realistic presentation of the obstacles black professional women face finding a suitable mate and another bit of Hollywood fluff where their skin color is glossed over."
Steve Persall of the St. Petersburg Times
graded the film B and commented, "I like the way Something New presents facets of African-American life seldom seen in mainstream movies, such as the formality and brief funkiness of a debutante
cotillion
, the affluent sophistication making such events important. I like Hamri's approach to material that might be offensive from a solidly black or white perspective. It all makes the foundational sameness of the story easier to take. The basic story isn't new, but telling it this way is really something."
Brian Lowry of Variety
observed, "Wispy at best, this romantic comedy from a first-time director and screenwriter feels as if whole chunks have been left on the cutting-room floor, with what remains mustering intermittent charm thanks to the attractiveness, if not chemistry, of Sanaa Lathan and Simon Baker . . . Perhaps the best thing the movie has going for it, actually, is that despite the title, there's really nothing new here at all; rather, the beats are so familiar the audience can fill in the gaps themselves."
and the other in fullscreen
format. Both have an English audio track and subtitles in English, Spanish, and French. Bonus features include an introduction by Blair Underwood, The Making of Something New, and The Dos and Don'ts of Dating.
2006 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2006...
American
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
romantic
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Sanaa Hamri
Sanaa Hamri
Sanaa Hamri is a Moroccan American music video and film director. She is one of the few prominent female film and music video directors of color.-Early life and breakthrough:...
. The screenplay by Kriss Turner
Kriss Turner
Kriss Turner is an American screenwriter and producer.Turner has written and produced episodes for the television series Sister, Sister, Living Single, The Bernie Mac Show, Cosby, Everybody Hates Chris, Whoopi and Sherri....
focuses on interracial relationships and traditional African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
family values
Family values
Family values are political and social beliefs that hold the nuclear family to be the essential ethical and moral unit of society. Familialism is the ideology that promotes the family and its values as an institution....
and social customs.
Plot
Kenya McQueen (Sanaa LathanSanaa Lathan
Sanaa McCoy Lathan is an American actress and voice actress. She has starred in numerous movies, including the box-office hits Love & Basketball, Alien vs. Predator, Something New, and The Family That Preys. Lathan was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance on Broadway in A Raisin in the Sun...
) is a successful, single African American woman who has sacrificed romance in order to pursue a career as a corporate finance manager. Her obsessive compulsive
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive–compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry, by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety, or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions...
desire for perfection and control has manifested itself in the bland, monochromatic
Monochrome
Monochrome describes paintings, drawings, design, or photographs in one color or shades of one color. A monochromatic object or image has colors in shades of limited colors or hues. Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale or black-and-white...
decor of her new home and the rigid rules she follows in her personal life. Urged to loosen up by her friends, Kenya accepts a blind date with landscape architect
Landscape architect
A landscape architect is a person involved in the planning, design and sometimes direction of a landscape, garden, or distinct space. The professional practice is known as landscape architecture....
Brian Kelly (Simon Baker
Simon Baker
Simon Baker is an Australian actor. Since 2008, he has starred in the CBS television series The Mentalist.-Early life:...
) arranged by her co-worker Leah Cahan (Katharine Towne
Katharine Towne
Katharine Payne Towne is an American actress.Towne was born in Hollywood, California, the daughter of actress Julie Payne and Robert Towne, an Oscar-winning screenwriter, director, and actor....
), who is in the process of planning the kind of wedding Kenya wants herself. The two meet at Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
, and she is disturbed to discover Brian is white, so she quickly excuses herself and leaves.
The two unexpectedly meet again at a party at Leah's parents' home, where Brian landscaped the grounds. Impressed with his work, Kenya decides to hire him to renovate her unkempt backyard garden. As time passes, their employer-employee relationship evolves into a friendship and then love.
Although Brian is helping her feel more comfortable about her living environment, Kenya finds it difficult to dismiss her reservations about their romance. The opinions of her girlfriends Cheryl (Wendy Raquel Robinson
Wendy Raquel Robinson
Wendy Raquel Robinson is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as high school principal Regina Grier on the WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show, and as sports agent Tasha Mack on the CW/BET comedy-drama The Game....
), Nedra (Taraji P. Henson
Taraji P. Henson
Taraji Penda Henson is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Yvette in Baby Boy , Shug in Hustle and Flow and Queenie in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button , for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2009...
), and Suzette (Golden Brooks
Golden Brooks
Golden Ameda Brooks is an American actress. She is best known for her nine-year role as Maya Wilkes on the UPN/CW comedy Girlfriends.-Biography:...
), her upper class
Upper class
In social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :...
parents Joyce (Alfre Woodard
Alfre Woodard
Alfre Ette Woodard is an American film, stage, and television actress. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award and Grammy Awards, 17 times for Emmy Awards , and has also won a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.She is known for her role in films such as Cross Creek, Miss...
) and Edmond (Earl Billings
Earl Billings
Earl William Billings is an American character actor who may best be known as Rob in the 1976-1977 television series What's Happening!!.-Life and career:Billings was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Willie Mae Billings....
), and her womanizing
Promiscuity
In humans, promiscuity refers to less discriminating casual sex with many sexual partners. The term carries a moral or religious judgement and is viewed in the context of the mainstream social ideal for sexual activity to take place within exclusive committed relationships...
younger brother Nelson (Donald Faison
Donald Faison
Donald Adeosun Faison is an American actor, comedian, and voice actor best known for his role as Dr. Chris Turk in the ABC comedy-drama Scrubs and as Murray in the film Clueless and the subsequent television series of the same name.Faison has also co-starred in the films Remember the Titans ,...
) begin to have a deleterious effect and Brian's unwillingness to discuss issues of color drives them apart.
Nelson introduces his sister to someone she views as a more acceptable suitor, tax attorney Mark Harper (Blair Underwood
Blair Underwood
Blair Underwood is an American television and film actor. He is perhaps best known as headstrong attorney Jonathan Rollins from the NBC legal drama L.A. Law, a role he portrayed for seven years. He has gained critical acclaim throughout his career, receiving numerous Golden Globe Award...
), who has just relocated to Los Angeles. The two begin to date, and while Joyce thoroughly approves, Edmond senses his daughter is not as happy as she was with Brian. Everything Kenya thought she wanted suddenly seems immaterial, and nothing Mark does ignites a spark between them. When the dissonance
Cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is a discomfort caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Dissonance is also reduced by justifying,...
she’s developed finally overwhelms her, Kenya chooses to reunite with Brian, no longer allowing her controlling nature and social norms
Norm (sociology)
Social norms are the accepted behaviors within a society or group. This sociological and social psychological term has been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit...
to dictate matters of the heart.
Kenya marries Brian amongst their closest friends and loved ones.
Cast
- Sanaa LathanSanaa LathanSanaa McCoy Lathan is an American actress and voice actress. She has starred in numerous movies, including the box-office hits Love & Basketball, Alien vs. Predator, Something New, and The Family That Preys. Lathan was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance on Broadway in A Raisin in the Sun...
- Kenya Denise McQueen - Simon BakerSimon BakerSimon Baker is an Australian actor. Since 2008, he has starred in the CBS television series The Mentalist.-Early life:...
- Brian Kelly - Blair UnderwoodBlair UnderwoodBlair Underwood is an American television and film actor. He is perhaps best known as headstrong attorney Jonathan Rollins from the NBC legal drama L.A. Law, a role he portrayed for seven years. He has gained critical acclaim throughout his career, receiving numerous Golden Globe Award...
- Mark Harper - Donald FaisonDonald FaisonDonald Adeosun Faison is an American actor, comedian, and voice actor best known for his role as Dr. Chris Turk in the ABC comedy-drama Scrubs and as Murray in the film Clueless and the subsequent television series of the same name.Faison has also co-starred in the films Remember the Titans ,...
- Nelson McQueen, Kenya's brother - Alfre WoodardAlfre WoodardAlfre Ette Woodard is an American film, stage, and television actress. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award and Grammy Awards, 17 times for Emmy Awards , and has also won a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.She is known for her role in films such as Cross Creek, Miss...
- Joyce McQueen, Kenya's mother - Earl BillingsEarl BillingsEarl William Billings is an American character actor who may best be known as Rob in the 1976-1977 television series What's Happening!!.-Life and career:Billings was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Willie Mae Billings....
- Edmond McQueen, Kenya's father - Wendy Raquel RobinsonWendy Raquel RobinsonWendy Raquel Robinson is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as high school principal Regina Grier on the WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show, and as sports agent Tasha Mack on the CW/BET comedy-drama The Game....
- Cheryl, Kenya's friend - Katharine TowneKatharine TowneKatharine Payne Towne is an American actress.Towne was born in Hollywood, California, the daughter of actress Julie Payne and Robert Towne, an Oscar-winning screenwriter, director, and actor....
- Leah Cahan - Stanley DeSantisStanley DeSantisStanley DeSantis was an American actor and businessman. He appeared in 15 motion pictures, the last of which being The Aviator, in which he portrayed Louis B. Mayer. He also made many television appearances...
- Jack Pino - Mike EppsMike EppsMichael Elliot "Mike" Epps is an American stand-up comedian, actor, film producer, writer, singer, and rapper. He is best known for playing Day-Day Jones in Next Friday and the sequel-to-the-sequel, Friday After Next, and also starring alongside Ice Cube in All About the Benjamins...
- Walter, Cheryl's husband - Julie Mond - Penelope, Brian's Ex
- Lee GarlingtonLee GarlingtonAnn Leslie "Lee" Garlington is an American actress.Garlington was born in Teaneck, New Jersey. She has guest starred in a number of notable television series, including The West Wing, 7th Heaven, 8 Simple Rules, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Judging Amy, L.A...
- Mrs. Cahan
Critical reception
Manohla DargisManohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with A.O. Scott. She was formerly a chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times, the film editor at the LA Weekly, and a film critic at The Village Voice. She has written for a variety of publications, including Film Comment and...
of the New York Times called the film "a pleasantly diverting romance . . . [in which] the chemistry between the leads is as unmistakable as the setup is contrived . . . The lovely Ms. Lathan . . . and the similarly attractive Mr. Baker . . . don't just look good together; they feel right in sync. Their easy, sensual rapport partly owes something to the generally sure hand of the film's director, Sanaa Hamri, making a fine feature debut, and something else, something indefinable, to the delectable mysteries of two bodies in cinematic motion."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
rated the film 3½ out of four stars and commented, "I found myself unexpectedly moved." He continued, "By the end, Something New delivers all the usual pleasures of a love story, and something more. The movie respects its subject and characters, and is more complex about race than we could possibly expect. With this film and the completely different but also observant Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah
Dana Elaine Owens , better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy...
comedy Last Holiday, black women are being paid a kind of attention they deserve but rarely get in the movies."
Kevin Crust of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
called the film "superficial and formulaic but pleasant enough to entertain and qualifies as intelligent and sophisticated by the current standard of Hollywood comedy." He added, "The movie nicely captures the area around Baldwin Hills, is crisply written by Kriss Turner and portrays the upper-middle class black community seldom seen in mainstream TV and film. However, the characterizations, even the leads, rarely rise above archetypes. The film's lack of depth as it oversimplifies the complexities of racism keep it from being anything other than a lightweight date movie."
Ruthe Stein of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
said, "The trouble with the movie is that it sometimes seems at odds with itself, vacillating between a realistic presentation of the obstacles black professional women face finding a suitable mate and another bit of Hollywood fluff where their skin color is glossed over."
Steve Persall of the St. Petersburg Times
St. Petersburg Times
The St. Petersburg Times is a United States newspaper. It is one of two major publications serving the Tampa Bay Area, the other being The Tampa Tribune, which the Times tops in both circulation and readership. Based in St...
graded the film B and commented, "I like the way Something New presents facets of African-American life seldom seen in mainstream movies, such as the formality and brief funkiness of a debutante
Debutante
A débutante is a young lady from an aristocratic or upper class family who has reached the age of maturity, and as a new adult, is introduced to society at a formal "début" presentation. It should not be confused with a Debs...
cotillion
Cotillion
In American usage, a cotillion is a formal ball and social gathering, often the venue for presenting débutantes during the débutante season – usually May through December. Cotillions are also used as classes to teach social etiquette, respect and common morals for the younger ages with the...
, the affluent sophistication making such events important. I like Hamri's approach to material that might be offensive from a solidly black or white perspective. It all makes the foundational sameness of the story easier to take. The basic story isn't new, but telling it this way is really something."
Brian Lowry of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
observed, "Wispy at best, this romantic comedy from a first-time director and screenwriter feels as if whole chunks have been left on the cutting-room floor, with what remains mustering intermittent charm thanks to the attractiveness, if not chemistry, of Sanaa Lathan and Simon Baker . . . Perhaps the best thing the movie has going for it, actually, is that despite the title, there's really nothing new here at all; rather, the beats are so familiar the audience can fill in the gaps themselves."
Award and nominations
- NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion PictureNAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion PictureThe NAACP Image Award winners for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture:Number of Performances that won or nominated for Oscars:*1. Whoopi Goldberg - The Color Purple*2. Angela Bassett - What's Love Got to Do With It?...
(Sanaa Lathan, nominee) - NAACP Image Award for Best Director of a Feature Film or Television Movie (Sanaa Hamri, nominee)
- Black Reel AwardBlack Reel Awards of 2007Here are the nominees and winners of the 2007 Black Reel Awards....
for Best Screenplay (Kriss Turner, winner) - Black Reel Award for Best Film (nominee)
- Black Reel Award for Best Actress (Sanaa Lathan, nominee)
- Black Reel Award for Best Director (Sanaa Hamri, nominee)
- Black Reel Award for Best Original Score (nominee)
- Black Reel Award for Best Original Soundtrack (nominee)
- Black Movie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Screenwriting (Kriss Turner, winner)
- Black Movie Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Lead Role (Sanaa Lathan, nominee)
- Black Movie Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Alfre Woodard, nominee)
DVD release
On May 16, 2006, the film was released on DVD in Region 1 in two versions, one in anamorphic widescreenAnamorphic widescreen
Anamorphic widescreen, when applied to DVD manufacture, is a video process that horizontally squeezes a widescreen image so that it can be stored in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio DVD image frame. Compatible playback equipment can then re-expand the horizontal dimension to show the original widescreen...
and the other in fullscreen
Pan and scan
Pan and scan is a method of adjusting widescreen film images so that they can be shown within the proportions of a standard definition 4:3 aspect ratio television screen, often cropping off the sides of the original widescreen image to focus on the composition's most important aspects...
format. Both have an English audio track and subtitles in English, Spanish, and French. Bonus features include an introduction by Blair Underwood, The Making of Something New, and The Dos and Don'ts of Dating.