New in Town
Lionsgate | Release Date: January 30, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
29
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
7
Negative:
21
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
A gentle, traditional (like, from the last century) romantic comedy. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
It resorts to a story line so predictable that its willingness to go so earnestly into unoriginal territory is doubly disappointing since its first half had so much more going for it. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The first Hollywood feature from Danish filmmaker Jonas Elmer, New in Town is so choppy that it would seem to have been edited with a pickax. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineJason Buchanan
It has a certain Midwestern charm that settles calmly in the stomach, making the viewer feel warm, comfortable, and quick to smile. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Do you like this sort of rom-com? It's a fair example of its type, not good, but competent. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
New in Town is "The Pajama Game" without the songs, the laughs or the bare-knuckled realism. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
New In Town grinds its plucky protagonist through a predictable arc from dispassionate big-city ice queen to redeemed small-town tenderheart. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
You've seen New in Town before, and you've seen it done better. Still, it's a sweet-hearted bit of anemia, pleasant and obvious, and there are a few honest laughs to it. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
As for the locals, they speak like extras from "Fargo," although, on this go-round, that weird Swedish accent has somehow lost its power to amuse. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
Zellweger takes an otherwise passable mainstream comedy and all but ruins it with her lack of effort. Read full review
40
Village VoiceBrian Miller
The movie wrong-foots Zellweger from the start. She's not enough the ice queen, like Sigourney Weaver in "Working Girl," for us to accept her transition into adorable Melanie Griffith. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The movie has little to recommend it and more than a few things to encourage those who pursue quality cinema to stay away. Read full review
38
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
The ghastly first half of this romantic comedy -- is as close to unwatchable as any moment in "Bride Wars." The fact that it stars Renée Zellweger just makes it harder to bear. Read full review
38
PremiereOlivia Putnal
Although it wasn't quite the comedy we had hoped for, the idea behind it is pretty cute; we just wished the laughs weren't so awkward and forced. Read full review
35
NPRBob Mondello
There's no chemistry between Zellweger and Connick, and there's not a moment in which anything anyone does feels remotely plausible. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
Strictly old hat -- and a poorly assembled hat at that. Read full review
30
VarietyJoe Leydon
It doesn't help that Zellweger, in an unfortunate attempt to make the aud appreciate her character's uptightness, spends many of the early scenes moving about as stiff as a flagpole in January. Read full review
30
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Seriously, though, watching New in Town left me feeling as pained as Zellweger, playing Lucy Hill, looks. Read full review
30
SlateDana Stevens
One of many burdensome tasks required of the viewer of this fish-out-of-water love story. The toughest of all: caring about any of the characters in this smug, check-off-the-boxes comedy. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
The new comedy is flat, the romance is listless, the pacing is sluggish, and the fish-out-of-water flops -- flip-flop, flip-flop, I can hear it still. Read full review
30
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Watching Ms. Zellweger’s joyless performance, you have to wonder what happened to this formerly charming actress who not so long ago seemed on the verge of becoming a softer, more vulnerable Shirley MacLaine. Read full review
30
SalonStephanie Zacharek
On second thought, maybe just about everyone should stay away from this drearily cheerful little picture that isn't nearly as funny or as heartwarming -- or even as topical, given the economic climate -- as it thinks it is. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The laughs and emotional moments are so weak that director Jonas Elmer has no choice but to tweak them with music cues and bland guitar-rock. Read full review
25
USA TodayClaudia Puig
To say that New in Town is the worst movie of this fledgling year is to damn it with faint praise. It may be one of the worst movies of any year. Not content to be merely inane and predictable, it is downright insulting, humorlessly deriding those who choose to live in rural America, labor in factories or have a strong Christian faith. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter Travers
This crap is supposed to be the chick flick antidote to Super Bowl fever. Ha! Read full review
25
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
Reprehensible. Read full review
25
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
As a comic fable for hard times, New in Town is irredeemably moronic. Read full review
25
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The only point of interest in New in Town is sociological. In the current economic climate, this comedy about workers whose livelihood is rescued by a benevolent boss represents the ultimate wish-fulfillment fantasy. Don't spend your hard-earned discretionary cash on it. Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
New in Town might have better played on the less demanding stage of, say, a Lifetime made-for-TV movie. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
A romantic comedy that's neither romantic nor funny. Read full review
10
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
It's unfunny at best and borderline-amateur at worst, notwithstanding the desperate efforts of Renée Zellweger. Read full review
0
New York PostLou Lumenick
Excruciatingly unfunny. Read full review
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