All the way through this one I kept expecting Doris Day to turn up on screen (as granny or some such). It sure did remind me of some of her 50s n' 60s shows. Good old fashioned fun, as predictable as snow in a Minnesota winter and, judging from the Big Box Office returns - just what some folk needed as relief from the misery and grunge of this tired old world (especially in movies). Renee Zellweger is always a joy to watch and the chemistry between her and Harry Connick Jr seemed evident throughout - in fact, everyone seemed to havin fun. OK, it's no great shakes but then, some things just don't need to be! If your lookin' for some ol time feel good, then this modern oldie could be just the tonic - why, it even looks well made for a change.

New in Town is a bland inoffensive rom-com that wants to channel the off beat spirit of Fargo without a murder mystery.Rene Zellweger is Lucy Hill, a troubleshooter sent by headquarters from her base in tropical Miami to turn round an under performing food processing factory in Minnesota. Hill soon finds that the weather is far from warm as Miami (she arrives in heels and any lack of warm clothing) and the locals are hicks used to small town ways and so there is immediately a culture clash.Hill also falls foul of the kind hearted local union representative (Harry Connick) who also conveniently happens to be a widowed single parent.As time goes by Hill who in effect needs to fire people realises that she can turn the company around by taking a high risk approach but needs to rally the town together and proves to the company that she works for that she is prepared to scrap with them to save the factory.This is really a fish out of water comedy of a woman who realises that the town has depth and comforts missing in her life. The hunky widowed union rep helps.This is watchable but it would never amount to above average. The accents were laid on thick, sounded Canadian to me but it there is never anything original in the pudding baked in this movie.

This was a charming movie about an executive sent from a big company to do what many Minnesotans are familiar with....downsizing. She is sent there to downsize and the folks there know it. They aren't too happy to see her and as she prances down the stairs in her high heal shoes and business suit they aren't too warm to her. As time goes on, she sees how genuine and loving these people are and that they need these jobs. Then she is told to close down the plant. She has learned how those of a smaller town have more caring and concern for people than those she may have seen in the big city and she grows to love them. At the same time, she meets a man who she thinks is just a country hick and finds that he loves to live this way and is happy and actually...has money. But before knowing that...she starts to fall in love with him. I loved this movie. I could relate because I was born and raised in Minnesota and also live here again. The only thing that kind of bugged me is that the accent/dialect that the people used was not true of Minnesotans...maybe Canadians but not Minnesotans. It reminded me of FARGO. And New Alm is close to the cities and people don't talk that way in Minnesota.

Funny, charming and romantic. My wife and I both liked this movie a lot. Cannot understand why it was not better received. Great cast and by the way did I mention that it was FUNNY! Not only a good movie, but much better than the formula.There are no car chases or much in the way of special effects, but there is a lot of heart. Cast was uniformly excellent. J K Simmons did a great job as did the entire cast. I had not heard anything about this movie until my wife found it while changing channels. We tivoed it and watched it a second time and it was just as good if not better. We even liked it enough to buy the DVD so we don't have to ff through the commercials and hopefully see whatever the broadcaster took out.