I enjoyed the movie mostly because I live in Minnesota. The movie wasn't filmed here as is obvious from the weather; it does not get that cold here in November anymore. Several errors were irritating. First, New Ulm is in southwestern Minnesota, not the southeast. Second, the first day you can go ice fishing is not a state holiday. The Twin Cities, where Lucy takes Bobbie to get her hair done, is a 3 hour round trip. And finally, the Mayo Clinic is in Rochester, two HOURS away from New Ulm, not a few minutes away. If you are going to set a movie in a specific city, RESEARCH it first.

At last, a fresh and imaginative comedy. An ambitious, hard nosed, big city mover and shaker (Zellweger) goes to small town USA to shake up a local company that's behind the times. She falls for the local hunk (Connick Jr) who is the union rep, which of course complicates the situation. Throw in a few 'mom and apple pie' characters plus dollops of homespun philosophy ...... what, you've seen it all before? No kidding! Yep, this effort is as stale as last week's buckwheat pancakes. The cast does its best but the story line and characters are so hackneyed that nothing could save this film from mediocrity. Utterly predictable and cloyingly sweet, you should watch it only if you've finished reading all of your junk mail catalogues.

Some funny moments, some shrewd observation of middle America (presumably that some critics do not wish to be reminded of!), a couple of charming leads, but an over-familiar storyline and development (Doc Hollywood etc) and far too rushed ending spoil a decent and fairly cheaply produced movie. The story of a hard assed career woman (and we keep seeing it in a pencil skirt) out of sunny Miami descending on freezing Nowheresville, Minnesota, to close the only industrial plant in town I've seen on TV, but so what, if the observation of her coming to terms with a slower, more honest, community-based Us proves truthful and funny. And for the most part, it does. Yes, she falls for the hunk who rescues her, she does not manage to slip on her Jimmy Choos on the ice (something you are so expecting), and she warms to the friendliness of her workers. She saves the plant, but.... Well acted, nicely written, unflashily directed, a surprise on Film Four after the bellicose pomposity of 'Avatar!' And it is not afraid to mention Jesus in a serious context! Wow!

At the time of its release, I had heard about and possibly seen a trailer for this film, so when I got the opportunity to see it I wanted to see whether or not I would agree with the low opinion rating given by the critics. Basically Lucy Hill (Renée Zellweger) is the high achieving high-powered company consultant who enjoys an upscale lifestyle in Miami, and she is sent to the almost middle of nowhere town of New Ulm, Minnesota. There it is her job to oversee the restructuring of a blue collar manufacturing plant, and one of her responsibilities is to lay off a few of the workers. Lucy takes an immediate irritation toward the woman she is staying with and who is the office secretary type, Blanche Gunderson (Men in Black's Siobhan Fallon Hogan), and slowly she works through the other changes that will be made in the plant. Being new in town and after all her slightly cold-hearted actions she is given a very icy reception by the locals, and she also has to put up with the freezing cod weather and icy roads that don't help her get places. Slowly though Lucy starts warming to the people of the town and their lifestyles, so much so that she is regretting more and more the actions she is taking for her work, especially as she is being accepted more and more. The big kick in the nuts is when she is told that the plant is going to be closed down, and she seems not to have the power to do anything about it, she is worried that the entire community will be out of work. In the end though, Lucy tastes Blanche's secret recipe for tapioca pudding, and she reignites a former yogurt production line which creates a lot of interest amongst buyers, the plant is saved, and Lucy gets a happy ending with her love interest Ted Mitchell (The Iron Giant's Harry Connick Jr.). Also starring Spider-Man's J.K. Simmons as Stu Kopenhafer, Mike O'Brien as Lars Ulstead, Frances Conroy as Trudy Van Uuden, Ferron Guerreiro as Bobbie Mitchell and Barbara James Smith as Joan. Even a sweet perky faced and lovable actress like Zellweger can't save this rather ridiculous story, she is in a pointless performance, well, the whole film is pointless, it did not make me laugh, it did not make me happy or sad with the love story, and almost none of engaged me, it is just a stupid and not worthwhile romantic comedy. Pretty poor!