Something New
Focus Features | Release Date: February 3, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
11
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
First-time feature director Sanaa Hamri's virtually perfect romantic comedy is a marvelous mix of brains and heart that confronts serious questions about race and dating with sensitivity, humor and enormous sex appeal. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
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. Read full review
83
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
It does offer that most pleasant and valuable of viewing experiences: A message movie in which story and character come first. Read full review
80
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Something New is the perfect date movie, not only because it explores a range of suitably romantic sentiments, but because it's so canny sociologically, as well as being delightfully good-natured. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The film is not riotous, but it is sporadically amusing. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneJessica Reaves
Thanks to Hamri's light touch and the considerable chemistry between Lathan and Baker, it's easy to forgive these missteps--leaving the film plenty of goodwill to spare. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Kenya and Bryan are both victims of racism and also guilty of it. But the colorful mosaic of their courtship is no downer like "Crash," but rather an upbeat account of expanding social and romantic possibilities in a world where women wear the suits and men speak the language of flowers. Read full review
75
USA TodayMike Clark
The story's presentation is easy to take. And lot of this is because of Lathan, who is funny by not trying to be. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
A satisfying chick flick that follows all the usual rules of the modern romantic comedy except one - it's not stupid. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle Smith
Irresistibly warm and surprisingly realistic. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
A keenly observed urban romantic comedy. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMark Holcomb
Sanaa Hamri's brisk, refreshingly understated romantic comedy Something New is the rare movie that delivers on its title's promise. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
The film is good news nonetheless - it's a store-bought valentine with real heart. Read full review
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Lathan, who was such a live wire as the aspiring basketballer in 2000's "Love & Basketball," gives this movie an alert, glamorous presence. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
Manages the neat feat of feeling sweetly inevitable rather than boilerplate predictable. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
What sets it slightly apart is a willingness to deal with a potentially tricky subject -- race -- in the context of light-hearted fluff. Read full review
60
VarietyBrian Lowry
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. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
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. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
This pleasant romantic comedy is essentially "Far From Heaven" with the races reversed. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Something New sets out to dramatize just how little society's attitudes toward interracial relationships have changed over the past few decades, but instead ends up documenting just how little the interracial-romance message movie has evolved since the clumsy days of "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner." Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
A shaky piece of work, with stumpy cinematography, choppy edits, speechy dialogue, and loose plotlines. And yet: There's an easygoing authenticity to the depiction of Kenya and her world that coexists with the picture's many weaknesses. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
The warmth of Baker as the cuddly nature boy (another idealized image, certainly, but a romantic one) and the intelligence and fire of Lathan give the lesson, and movie, just enough heart to make it enjoyable. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The stars have chemistry, which may be all that we can hope for in factory-line fluff. But why stack the deck so clumsily? Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
Like most films of its type, Something New is not tough to sit through, but the thought of paying full price to see it isn't especially desirable. Read full review
50
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
It'll appeal to that segment of the population that goes to movies like this on Valentine's Day, but other than that, Something New feels pretty worn. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Each time Something New touches on something controversial, it quickly retreats to some silliness. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyTim Grierson
Something New never feels remotely like the world we live in - it's a fabrication of a gauzy romantic-comedy movieland where people of all colors can be equally trite and dull. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
This is an inept and unsubtle romantic fantasy about how black people and white people don't mix. Read full review
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