Something New (film)

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Something New
Directed by	Sanaa Hamri
Produced by	Stephanie Allain
Written by	Kriss Turner
Starring	Sanaa Lathan Simon Baker Donald Faison Blair Underwood Alfre Woodard Earl Billings Wendy Raquel Robinson Taraji P. Henson Golden Brooks
Distributed by	Focus Features
Release date(s)	February 3, 2006
Running time	99 min
Language	English
IMDb profile

Something New is a 2006 romance film, written by Kriss Turner and directed by Sanaa Hamri. This film stars Sanaa Lathan and Simon Baker. This film is rated PG-13 by MPAA for sexual references.

This romantic comedy addresses interracial relationships, corporate professionalism, traditional family values, and traditional African-American social customs, such as the cotillion in the final scene.

As of February 12, 2006, the film grossed a total of 11.5 million dollars in the domestic Box Office according to Boxofficemojo.com website.

[edit] Synopsis

Kenya McQueen (Sanaa Lathan) is a successful, single African-American woman, whose life has become all work and no play because of her competitive job as a CPA. Her obsessive compulsive desire for perfection and control exhibits itself in the bland, colorless furnishings ("like a hotel") in her new home, and in what her friends call "The List," the attributes she wants in her IBM or "ideal black man." Urged to "let go and let flow," Kenya later accepts a blind date set up by her co-worker Leah Cahan, who is in the process of planning the kind of wedding that Kenya often dreams about. At Magic Johnson's Starbucks, Kenya rudely turns down the date, Brian Kelly (Simon Baker), a handsome and free-spirited white landscape architect, when she sees that he is not at all what she expected.

Soon, the two meet again at Leah's wedding shower, and though Brian isn’t what she pictures for herself, Kenya hires Brian to landscape her unkempt backyard garden. Over time, the employer-employee relationship develops into friendship, and then love. Through Brian, she starts to feel comfortable about not only transforming her backyard and her living environment, but herself as well. However, Kenya can’t shake off her reservations about their romance. The opinions of her girlfriends Cheryl (Wendy Raquel Robinson), Nedra (Taraji P. Henson), and Suzette (Golden Brooks), of her affluent parents, and of her womanizing younger brother Nelson (Donald Faison) begin to have a deleterious effect on how she views her relationship with Brian and inevitably, their differences pull them apart. It's Nelson who then hurriedly pushes Kenya into the arms of a more acceptable suitor, tax lawyer Mark Harper (Blair Underwood), his law school mentor who has just relocated to Los Angeles. Mark would please Joyce, their social-climbing mother (Alfre Woodard); however, her physician father, Edmond (Earl Billings) senses a difference in how his daughter interacts with the two men. Everything Kenya thought she wanted is challenged, and nothing Mark does seems to make her feel as alive as when she was with Brian. When the dissonance that she’s created in her mind finally overwhelms her, Kenya chooses to go after Brian, no longer allowing her controlling nature and social norms to dictate the matters of her heart.

[edit] Award/Nominations

Black Movie Awards
- Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Lead Role: Sanaa Lathan (Nominated)
- Outstanding Achievement in Screenwriting: Kriss Turner (Winner)
- Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Alfre Woodard (Nominated)