It’s a cute movie starring Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. and supposedly takes place in New Ulm, MN. Zellweger’s character plays an executive from Miami who goes to New Ulm to help refit a company where Connick’s character is the union official. She arrives in the middle of winter with her high heels and short skirts to find a small town in a bit of a time warp. The hairstyles, outfits and décor of the ladies are circa 1980. The leading man is a “red neck” complete with scruffy beard, plaid flannel and a pick up truck. Personalities clash, the company struggles, enemies become friends, and you can predict the outcome…..I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to movies. If it’s taken from a book, I want it to follow the characters and plot closely. In this film, I wanted to see New Ulm. Other reviewers noted the lack of authenticity in the film. The film was not shot in New Ulm but in Winnepeg because of production costs. Though it’s cold and snowy and could be taken for the Midwest, it is too flat and tree-less for the region surrounding this small community proud of its German heritage. We don’t see Herman the German, the Glockenspiel, the Schell’s beer factory or the cute German restaurant that I visited with my high school class. Though rural Minnesotans may not sport the most recent Paris fashions, we’re not as “hick” as the movie portrays us. And the accents…. well, as a Minnesotan they were close, but a bit “over the top” even for me.
New Ulm, a close-knit friendly Minnesota town, chose to enjoy their bit of notoriety with and apropos opening night celebration: A Potluck Premier Party complete with a “tapioca bar.”
If you’re from Minnesota, go see the movie. You’ll need to be informed for the sake of disabusing others of any misinformation.
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