Anybody here watch TV One on cable??? I love some of the old shows they've brought back (i.e. Showtime at the Apollo, Martin, Roc) They also play some great blaxploitation flicks, too!

Here's a new program that will be airing soon on TV One -- The premise is based on a woman's interracial (vs. same race) love relations: www.amsterdamnews.com/News/ar...icle.asp

“Something New” actually turns out to be
by SUSAN E. MCGREGOR
Special to the AmNews
Originally posted 2/1/2006

Hollywood’s well-documented discomfort with the interracial relationship should perhaps be the first clue that Sanaa Hamri’s directorial debut “Something New” has a little bit more to it than the traditional romantic comedy.

Despite its sleek packaging, the film feels actually fresh, with more art and edge to it than the standard Hollywood sugar rush. And the script, from Kriss Turner, a veteran comedy writer and co-producer of last season’s TV hit “Everybody Hates Chris,” deftly cuts from sharp dialogue about race and relationships to irreverent, honest humor that keeps the film going and, most importantly, genuinely entertaining.

Kenya (Sanaa Lathan) is a successful businesswoman who, along with her “Sex and the City”-like cohort of girlfriends, themselves all accomplished professional Black women, question the fate of those 42.4 percent of them that will never be married. After they agree to adopt a “let go, let flow” attitude toward romance, however, Kenya agrees to go on a blind date with a co-worker’s friend. When she shows up for her Starbucks rendezvous, Kenya is caught off guard when she finds her date, Brian (Simon Baker), is white. After a few awkward false starts, Kenya bails on the caffeinated disaster, only to encounter him at her co-worker’s wedding and eventually enlist him to transform the gnarly garden of her new home.

Part of what keeps this movie interesting is that race is not the only juxtaposition it deals with. Kenya is a bit of a Black American princess, while Brian is a landscape architect who spends most days with his hands in the dirt. Although both differences are played up for effect, the movie executes its humor without the kind of loping pace that sets up every situation 10 minutes in advance. The unassuming nature of both the actors and their characters is also essential, so that instead of attempting to navigate a politically correct path through the potential pitfalls of their relationship, they often walk straight into them with a kind of earnest naïveté. The result is moments that are often genuinely surprising and seriously funny, with only one or two romantic comedy gag-
inducing metaphors.

Although some useless stereotypes do intrude into the film—like Donald Faison as Kenya’s law grad little brother who pretends to be a producer as a means of access to an endless array of gorgeous airheads—in general, the movie manages to be honest enough to say something interesting and self-deprecating enough to stay entertaining.

Also worthy of note are the skillful direction and camerawork that capture the sensibility of certain scenes—from Kenya sizing up a group of brothers to the inevitable love scene—almost perfectly. As a welcome departure from many of the more tired aspects of standard romantic comedy fare, moviegoers can be glad that this is film is actually “Something New.”