Something New

Every now and again people should attempt to watch movies that don’t make a killing at the box office or that was wildly popularised by the earth shattering trailer they had. People should just take on faith that a movie will be great because of the story and the calibre of actors in it. That’s what I went on when I chose to watch Something New last year.

Something New stars Simon Baker (The Guardian) and Sanaa Lathan (Love and Basketball) in a story about falling love despite your differences and what the world deems technically acceptable. Kenya (Lathan) is a successful young black woman, a tax attorney, who is about to make partner in her firm, she has everything money and good education can buy expect someone to share it all with. Brian (Baker) is an ex-advertising executive who gave up the boardroom for landscaping. By some rather silly error in judgment, in Kenya’s opinion, her friend sets her up on a blind date with Brian who is smitten the instant he meets her. Kenya explains that she doesn’t date white guys and moves on only for Brian to reappear in her life when she needs a landscaper. Like most love stories, boy meets girl, takes girl hiking, gets her hair wet, they make out and some and they become the odd multi-racial couple that people talk about at parties.

The movie follows their romance as Kenya struggles with the idea of loving a white man in an already prejudiced society, while Brian loves her without worrying about society and what it means to date a black woman. Phrases such as ‘black tax’ and ‘the boys at the plantation’ crop in discussions only black people understand.

This film is a breath of fresh in an industry that forks out hundreds of romantic comedy in a year. Baker and Lathan make the perfect couple trying to find something new in a society filled with the same of old song and dance. It’s one of those movies that sends tingles down your spine and make you question your own prejudices on the subject.