REVIEW: Comedic value lost in sea of caricatures

The mostly inoffensive but ultimately enslaved-to-formula "New in Town" is destined to feel like a really bad case of cinematic déjà vu. It's "Doc Hollywood" meets "Fargo."

Minus the wood chipper.

Lucy Hill (Renée Zellweger) isn't climbing so much as blasting up the corporate ladder at the swank headquarters of a Miami food conglomerate. When her boss asks for someone to oversee the dismemberment of one of the company's underperforming plants, the ambitious Lucy volunteers, knowing that a job well done guarantees a big promotion.

There's just one problem: The plant is in snowbound New Ulm. It's just Minnesota, but for Lucy, it might as well be Mars.

Lucy doesn't understand the "simple" ways of the rubes of New Ulm, and they "sure as shootin'" don't know what to make of her. Slowly but surely Lucy's icy exterior begins to thaw (the handsome local union rep played by Harry Connick Jr. may have something to do with that), and she begins to see the plant for what it truly is - populated with ordinary people trying their hardest just to get by.

As Lucy begins reassessing her big-city priorities, she sets out on a crusade to save the plant and everyone in it, even if it means her own job.

"New in Town" is a classic fish-out-of-water story, if by "classic" you mean a story told and retold so many times it is now as thin as onionskin paper. The film enjoys poking fun at stereotypes, particularly those of frostbitten Minnesotans, but only rarely do those stereotypes cut both ways.

Zellweger actually makes for a pretty convincing comedian, and while she is given nothing original to do, she still manages to do it in her usual, plucky style. Connick Jr., a long way from his New Orleans roots, might seem an odd choice as Zellweger's foil/love interest, but the couple's chemistry is not one of the things "New in Town" fumbles.

While this might officially be classified a romantic comedy, the love story is actually more of a subplot subordinate to jokes about ice fishing and tapioca pudding.

While there are several genuine laugh-out-loud moments, they are mostly lost in a sea of caricatures, clichéd eccentricities, slapstick spills, "you gotchas" and "okey-dokes."

"New in Town" may seem like a Capra-esque fable for our economically depressed time, but chances are this exceedingly familiar and instantly forgettable romantic comedy will just remind you of a dozen other films that tackled the same subject matter, only better.

NEW IN TOWN

Cast: Renee Zellweger, Harry Connick Jr., J.K. Simmons
Director: Jonas Elmer
Playing at: Hollywood, Tinseltown, Carmike, Cinemark, Chapel Hills
Rated: PG (for language and some suggestive material)
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

GRADE: C