Have You Seen This Movie Set In Minnesota?
This movie was a little bit of a fail. I watched (or tried to watch) a romantic comedy last night. It is called New In Town and it is over a decade old. It came out in 2009 and stars Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. It also happens to be set in Minnesota.
It wasn't actually filmed in Minnesota. It was filmed in Canada and passed off as Minnesota, which works. However, the way they portrayed us in the movie was so incredibly over the top. It was actually hard to watch!
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The movie's premise follows the classic romantic comedy formula. Renee Zellweger plays a businesswoman moving up the corporate ladder who is sent on work assignment to New Ulm to streamline a food manufacturing plant. She is from Miami, which means she is in for a pretty big shock.
To be honest, I couldn't make it past the first hour. I may go back and give it a shot but it was a little hard to watch. I am sad saying this because I am truly obsessed with romantic comedies and usually love them all, no matter how bad. I think I was annoyed by all the classic Minnesota stereotypes that were crammed in the film. Every single scene had one or multiple.
Of course, the film opens up with a group of friends hanging out in the kitchen in New Ulm. They all have ridiculous accents that I have never once heard in all my life living in Minnesota. They also obsess over tapioca, which I also don't think is a thing.
Here are a few other classic stereotypes the movie touched on before I turned it off:
- Minnesotans eat meatloaf and meatloaf only. (They could have done tater tot hot dish here, but okay.)
- We have ridiculous haircuts, including weird mullets.
- Cows are everywhere, including in the middle of the road causing Renee to go into a ditch.
- The roads are so desolate no one drives by for hours.
- Houses are so cold and the heat doesn't work because it is just so cold outside.
- Minnesotans call out sick to drink at bars and go ice fishing.
- Ice fishing is an actual national holiday. (Okay, it kind of is.)
- Minnesotans are aloof.
These are just a few of many stereotypes that were hit on in the movie before I turned it off. I may go back and finish it because I liked the premise but the way they tried to sell Minnesotans put a bad taste in my mouth. If I were watching this anywhere else in the country, I would not be able to get through it because it is so grating as it is.
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With that said, I love Renee and it was somewhat entertaining. Is it too much to ask to have someone make a film in Minnesota where we don't talk crazy?