Should black women turn to white guys for love? Sanaa Hamri's Something New attempts to answer that question and many others. Along with interracial love, the film also attempts to tackle corporate racism and racial politics in the upper-class black community. But in dealing with all these issues, the problems with the movie come from one direct source: the two leads.
Kenya McQueen (Sanaa Lathan) is a corporate lawyer looking for love — with a black man. Brian Kelly (Simon Baker) is a gardener who, through a job at Kenya's garden, becomes interested in Kenya herself. The problem is, Brian is white. Can a black woman and a white man from different backgrounds find love? Sure they can, but not these two.
Hey, she's got more on her mind than a man. She's got racism at her job, and a shady brother (Donald Fasion) and a pushy mother (Alfre Woodward) to worry about as well. These extra plot points, while maybe important to McQueen's personality, seem to weigh the plot down. The solution would be to simply cut the family down to a couple of scenes and try to tie the racism at her job in with the already-uncomfortable possibility of being outed for dating a white man.
On second thought, dump the romance part and turn this into a remake of Working Girl with racial politics added in.
Stuffy plot aside, the film does create a little tension with Blair Underwood's Mark, who is referred to Kenya by her family, who secretly would prefer a marriage to a black man. Underwood, who displays a good range of acting skills with the right script, is given nothing to do except to distract from her true calling of being with Baker. But the Kriss Turner screenplay doesn't give him anything else. Simon Baker's Brian is pretty, and Underwood's Mark is pretty, and that's about the only thing these two have in common with Lathan's McQueen.
One issue that black women have never been able to discuss without a "Hell No!" in response is whether the man they are attracted to, white or not, is the man inside and not the man outside. Hamri gives several shots of Baker's strong arms and tight frame to lure viewers into the notion that a white man is as hot as a black man. If they changed the Simon to Pegg rather than Baker (better known for his role in Shaun Of The Dead), I'm sure Lathan's character would have simply paid for his duties and wiped his name clear from her mind.
Along for the ride are Kenya's three friends Cheryl (Wendy Raquel Robinson of The Steve Harvey Show), Suzette (Golden Brooks of Girlfriends) and Nedra (Taraji P. Henson, who did this movie before the recently-acclaimed Hustle and Flow). All of them serve little purpose in the movie except for a roundtable discussion of their lives and their dating stories. Golden Brooks, who has struggled to really be the center of a movie, needs to get her own picture. I may even have a script for her if I can ever work up the courage.
Of course the movie ends with the typical happy ending. I won't say which suitor gets Kenya's heart, but it's certainly the one who is given the most screen time of the two male leads.
Rounding out the features of the DVD, an introduction by Blair Underwood is provided. I don't really see the purpose of this, as a good film really doesn't need an introduction by any of the production team or cast. I suppose this feature is meant to be a personal touch and to give a bit of interaction with viewers.
There's also a "Making Of" featurette which includes interviews from the cast and crew of the movie. It was interesting to hear the input from everyone on what they tried to talk about. A lesser-quality addition is a piece on the do's and don'ts of dating. Since this movie covers issues of race rather than dating, I would have excluded this from the DVD release.
If you desire to date outside of your race, do so — but not on the basis of this movie. If you don't know how to date anyone, don't use this DVD to educate you. Find your own way to find Something New.