New in Town

There are echoes of Diane Keaton's 1987 vehicle Baby Boom here. It's the tale of a fast-talking, high-heel-wearing city type (in this instance Renee Zellweger) winding up in some godforsaken corner of America (in this case New Ulm, Minnesota) and having her cold, spread-sheeted heart thawed by the pure decency of the local hicks.

Zellweger is Lucy Hill, a high-flyer in a Miami-based food-processing giant who has been dispatched to New Ulm where the branch is under-performing. Here she meets her new secretary Blanche (Siobhan Fallon Hogan) who is infatuated with tapioca, and the local union head, Ted (Harry Connick Jr), who is a widower and father, and who might as well have the words "LOVE INTEREST" tattooed across his forehead.

Of course, Ted brings out the vulnerable, klutzy side in the uber-capable Lucy, rescuing her when she crashes into a snowdrift as she tries to avoid a cow, and bearing the brunt of her bad aim when she shoots him in the derriere while out crow hunting.

But the softer Lucy also brings some sharp Miami thinking to New Ulm, giving Ted's daughter a makeover on the eve of the prom, and masterminding a tapioca-based plan to rescue the factory (shades of Baby Boom here, too).

Ultimately, however, the whole thing feels a bit lacking in fire; you can't help but pine for the quirky charm of Zellweger, which seems to have been mislaid somewhere en route to Minnesota. ·