New in Town is a sweet, formulaic romantic comedy starring Renée Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. in a snowbound Minnesota town called New Ulm. Zellweger plays Lucy Hill, a suit executive, who gets a bum job out in freezing Minnesota. She’s been commissioned to make lay-offs and instigate a new product line in the sleepy little town, which relies on the factory. The new gal in town struggles to fit in with her city ways, but eventually grows accustomed to the locals and their folksy warmth. Her cold, icy exterior melts as she lets the love in, especially when it comes to Ted Mitchell (Connick Jr.). New in Town is Danish director, Jonas Elmer’s, Hollywood debut. It may have similar conventions to other fish out of water comedies like Sweet Home Alabama and Doc Hollywood, but it’s no Groundhog Day.

The movie is laden with inside jokes for Minnesota folk, and rumbles along at a merry pace. The passage of time adds to the genuine transition that Lucy is making, and also makes her torrid love affair with New Ulm seem a bit more believable. The movie is fairly predictable as far as “romcoms” go, but there isn’t as much focus on the Ted relationship as there is on Lucy’s relationship with the town itself. The cold snowy location is counterbalanced by a warm cocoa kind of feeling with Christmas carols, some funny interactions and plenty of heart. Zellweger puts a lid on the character, although you can’t help but wonder how Jennifer Aniston or Reece Witherspoon would’ve played. She has a good chemistry with Harry Connick Jr.’s Ted with an opposite’s attract romance, even if it isn’t out-of-this-world. However, she doesn’t hold the reins on the film like she did in Bridget Jones’s Diary.

The writers blend an interesting mix of comedy into New in Town. The funnier moments involve slapstick, but the delivery is made to feel natural and it doesn’t seem forced. Zellweger rolls with the comic moments and Connick Jr. also has a great sense of timing as demonstrated in Will & Grace and more recently in P.S. I Love You. New in Town is utterly predictable, but Elmer brings a real human spirit to the film. This is evident in some of Lucy’s interactions with Blanche and Ted, as a bigger-than-the-big-screen sense of home is ushered in. Zellweger is competent as Lucy in the lead, but you can’t help but feel that she’s become a poor man’s Aniston. The movie makes a light, enjoyable outing and is one of those easy-to-watch date movies that gives you permission to feel good without feeling guilty. Minnesota accents, cockle-warming charm, laugh-out-loud funny moments and that coming home feeling are the main reason to see New in Town. It may not be memorable, but it does its job in being an entertaining “romcom”.

The bottom line: Enjoyable.