Something New

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I saw this movie on Friday night and absolutely loved it! Simon and Sanaa had such smokin' chemistry. They were just so...sexy together.

Geez, I like Donald Faison a lot thanks to Scrubs and Clueless, but his character was so aggravating. And Alfre Woodard got a bit too over the top, IMO, toward the end of the movie. I guess that's what the script called for, but it didn't work for me. She just seems like she should always be understated and dignified whereas she came off as a bit cartoony to me.

ETA: I've never heard of Restaurant, tapshoetimestep. Is the movie about interracial relationships or was that just one of its facets? And was Simon dating a member of another race in it? I'm just curious since I don't recall ever seeing commercials for it.

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And Alfre Woodard got a bit too over the top, IMO

I agree. She's normally so reliable. But this time I definitely caught her "acting." I think someone like Diahann Carroll would have been better at playing Kenya's haughty society bitch mom without turning her into a cartoon. (Remember her work as Whitley Gilbert's mother on A Different World? Twas excellent.)

Is the movie about interracial relationships or was that just one of its facets?

Just one of it's facets.

And was Simon dating a member of another race in it?

Adrien Brody plays an aspiring playwright who is dating Lauryn Hill. He breaks up with her when she cheats on him with Simon's character who is an aspiring actor and Adrien's buddy.

Adrien's character writes a play about the whole thing and of course, Simon's character is cast as the lead.

Adrien's character seemed to have a "thing" for black women that bordered on a fettish and Simon's character was a would-be player.

[tamaradixon]

Why didn't this get released in Canada??

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Actually, I didn't think it was that great. As mentioned above, the best and funniest moments were with her friends (I've forgotten the name of the character played by Sanaa), but the rest just wasn't that funny.
In making out scenes, the two had chemistry, but I just didn't feel like the movie showed why the two should be together.
Plus, one inconsistency really grated on my nerves--the big blowup in the supermarket; it seemed like they'd totally reversed characters--he was the one who always wanted to talk about the issue while she'd try to push it aside--but here they suddenly took opposite viewpoints!
(Also, I don't think Simon Baker is all that hot. YMMV!)

[thickyricardo]

she was SUCH and uptight frigid witch for the whole first part of the movie that I found it hard to muster up too much sympathy for her man troubles. Also, Brian, as a character wasn't very well-developed.

ITA. I like Sanaa Lathan so I was surprised to have such apathy for Kenya. But she was such a bitchy, tense woman it was hard for me to understand why Brian was attracted to her. And yeah, Brian's story was seriously underdeveloped. In the final scene I noticed John Ratzenberger was playing Brian's story, and that was the only time I saw him and he didn't have any dialogue. You just know some of Brian's backstory, including scenes with his dad, were left on the cutting room floor.

And also, the usually tasty Blair Underwood looked like ass in this movie. I'd say it's a rental at best.

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Bumped

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Oops, thanks for the bump, Jensational.

I thought this was better than most of the movies of this type. And...mmm...Simon's hot.

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No problem. I remembered commenting in it.

Simon is hot. He looked much better here than he did in Devil Wears Prada.

[tamaradixon]

I finally saw this on dvd, as it never did get released in Canada.

I too had problem with Brian's character. I know its mainly the woman's story, but I wanted more Simon Baker dammit. I noticed at the end, John Ratzenberger was there. WTF? did I miss something. So I went to IMDb and sure enough, he's listed as Brian's dad. I have a feeling lots of Brian stuff (which would have led us to understand him better) was left on the cutting room floor.

Alfre Woodard was terrible. Miscast and just bad. I loved Donald Faison and wanted to see more of him. He added some much needed levity.

Overall, I'd give it a B+ because of the hot chemistry, but I think this could have been much better. It just fell short for me. Too bad.