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List Price: $26.99 | | Label: First Independent
Salesrank: 100723
Released: September 12, 2006 |
| Our Price: $1.49 |
| Used Price: $0.53 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Edie Falco, Tony Shaloub, Stephen Colbert and Olympia Dukakis star in this lighthearted comedy about life in New York City one year following 9/11. It’s a comedy about starting over.
Description of The Great New Wonderful:
A rich portrait of life in New York in the wake of disaster, The Great New Wonderful offers a kind of compassion rare in film. Five storylines intertwine--including competitive pastry chefs (Maggie Gyllenhaal, Secretary, and Edie Falco, The Sopranos), an elderly woman (Olympia Dukakis, Moonstruck) realizing she can't stand her lumpish husband, and a middle-class parents (Judy Greer, Arrested Development, and Tom McCarthy, Syriana) coping with their increasingly sociopathic child--all of them thick with brilliantly observed social tension. As a therapist (Tony Shalhoub, Big Night) questions a patient (Jim Gaffigan), it's ambiguous whether he's diagnosing the patient's anger or actually causing it. The Great New Wonderful makes compelling drama out of the subtle discords of commonplace life, the kind of frustration and hostility that rises up constantly but has to be tamped back down in order to get through the day--but in the aftermath of a catastrophe like 9/11, the smallest things become unbearable. The Great New Wonderful doesn't rise to the scope of Robert Altman's best work (like Nashville), but it successfully avoids the forced pretensions of other ensemble pieces like Magnolia. Subtlety is too often invoked to excuse a lack of substance, but this movie genuinely makes small nuances tangible and compelling. --Bret Fetzer
The Great New Wonderful Reviews:
Meh - I wouldn't pay for it 
2008-01-03 - I watched this movie on cable. Great line up of actors. Most are wasted on two-dimensional characters. You know these actors from their previous and subsequent work - so you expect excellence. Unfortunately, their presence distracts from the story. I love Steven Colbert, but I only enjoyed his presence once he started to crack off one-liners. I think the 9-11 subtext is a red haring. After reflecting a few hours, I think the moral of at least one story line is - get rid of your mentally disturbed kid if you ever want any sanity/sex life. Perhaps that's where the dark humor comes in . . . . Who knows? If this movie qualifies as a "brilliant comedy", then Old Yeller is a laugh riot. Greenwich Village is missing its idiot.
Read between the lines 
2007-09-17 - This is not a comedy but a deep insightful snapshot into the lives of ordinary New Yorkers in the aftermath of 9/11. Though 9/11 is not referenced directly by any of the charachters you get the sense that all are undergoing profound changes within themselves during the course of the year following the attack. This was a brilliant movie if you are able to read between the lines. (I have no idea why this is being billed as a comedy?)
Please enter a title for your review 
2007-08-30 - I picked it up because of Colbert and Gaffigan's names on the cover figuring if they chose to be involved in it it would at least be creative if not funny. It's just slow and boring. Another formulaic attempt to find beauty and tragedy in the minuitae of everyday human existance. The characters and situations are more developed than those in 21 Grams or Coffee And Cigarettes but not as much as those in American Beauty or You And Me And Everyone We Know.
What a disappointment...
2007-08-18 - This drama is so stupid. One man is driven to madness, a child that has anger problems,a man obsessed with cheating on his wife, and a woman trying to be the best at her job. The only thing that remotely brings the topic of 9/11 is the pscho evaluation. I guess the writers want you to guess the child has anger issues because of 9/11. THis movie was all over the place in direction. THe acting was good and they had a great cast but obviously the writers didn't know what to do with them. Definitely not a family movie!
The Dull, Tired and Never Wonderful.
2007-07-23 - The above, is a much better title for this so-called movie. The reason they let you watch each of the five, 20 minute stories separately (if you choose to), is because they're all really just shorts. Nothing funny about this film, except for the Dvd cover, which only gets the actor's names correct. Every other word on it is a complete lie. It's not even good, never mind brilliant. Comedy? Nope! It's a movie about angst, fear, depression and who knows what else.
I always love Maggie G., but here, her part is just too small for me to really care about her. Stephen Colbert's bit part as the school Principal was smoothly acted (again it's too short to care much), and yes, it was nice to see Rosemarie Dewitt (co-star of the recently cancelled Fox show, "Standoff") have a brief 1 minute or so scene in this film, but it was a bland scene, just like this entire movie. Except for maybe the two brief shots of Judy Greer's absolutely perfect rear end (too bad she always had something covering it). I think her derriere is actually "The Great New Wonderful". So, maybe it's not false advertising after all.
Finally, none of the stories have any really good endings. They just end, like each of our own days do. How profound...and boring. I give this 1 and a half stars (the half star is for Judy Greer's best feature; although, I enjoyed her role in the film the most, even without her backside's "Oscar"-worthy performance...for Best Supporting Asstress).
