![]() ![]() Kenya and Brian do eventually fall into the first stages of a romance. ![]() At work, she advises an important client to stay away from a merger this is not news the client wants to hear, and he is unhappy hearing it from a black woman who seems better-informed than he is. There's talk of the "black tax" that requires someone like Kenya to work harder than her white colleagues, in order to overcome doubts about her competence. The movie has frank dialogue about race - not platitudes about how we're all really the same, but realistic observations about race in modern America. That is not a prejudice, she tells Brian, but a preference. Her family and friends are not thrilled by the notion that she might date a white man. Her brother is a lawyer for a movie studio. Her mother ( Alfre Woodard) is a pillar of black society, and of course her daughter made her debut at a black-tie Cotillion. Kenya's father ( Earl Billings) is head of his department at Cedars-Sinai. The movie is, astonishingly, told from a point of view hardly ever visible in movies: African-American professionals. You probably think the cards are stacked in favor of these two people falling in love. You probably think "Something New," like the remake " Guess Who," approaches interracial romance as a sitcom opportunity. So let's pause and deal with some things you're probably assuming. The movie depends on a sudden rain shower, that old Victorian standby, to drive them into the shelter of a tree for an unexpected kiss. She does hire Brian to landscape her backyard, and gradually finds herself drawn to him, against her will. She doesn't seem to date black guys either, but she would in theory, if the IBM (Ideal Black Man) came along. They're fixed up on a blind date, but she makes awkward apologies and leaves. That's how she meets Brian Kelly ( Simon Baker), who is single, attracted to her, and a landscape architect. ![]()
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