User reviews

The Great New Wonderful is about several groups of people all living in NY after 9/11 and running up to the first anniversary 9/11/2002. Each group has their own demons to deal with, seemingly as a result of the memories of 9/11, but the film doesn't deal directly with the event itself. You get to know the characters and how ordinary their lives are and then things get kind of wacky as the first anniversary approaches. More of a drama than a comedy, this film is technically top notch, but it is emotionally heavy, almost smothering. Perhaps it's best to stay away from films released in Sept to avoid getting beaten down by the heavy and repetitive themes of overt sadness and ptsd.

Decent, if not altogether powerful ensemble dramady is a subtle ode to the struggling inhabitants of NYC one year after 9/11, and is being released onto video five years later for the rest of the country to collectively grieve with. Though the film subtly uses the tragedy as a psychological backdrop to tell of these five eclectic character's personal dilemmas, the writer smartly abstains from any preaching of blatant and exploitive content when exploring this aftermath through his different voices, allowing for each conflict to become it's own theme. While the movie does take some time to build speed, eventually the lighthearted catharsis it was going for does spill forth, no doubt helped in part by the strong supporting cast. This is the perfect film for people who are still convinced they are too traumatized to watch anything clearly depicting September 11th, but by now feel the need to witness some sort of emotional connection, creatively, with that day.

Not bad but not so great either, "The Great New Wonderful" suffers from IIS: Insufferable Indie Syndrome. In trying to serve up a few slices of life in post 9/11 New York, the director of the truly wonderful comedies "Dude, Where's My Car?" and "Harold and Kumar" tries awful hard to be Subtle, Tasteful, and Artistic. The problem is, the results are way TOO Subtle, Tasteful, and Artistic. So much so that there are practically no emotions, no connections, no dramatic effect. Even a handful of very good performances can't save the underwritten script and lackluster direction.

Memo to the Director: GO BACK TO COMEDY! (It actually takes a lot more skill and creativity to produce a clever comedy than to churn out another clichéd indie drama.)

It's admirable that director Danny Leiner and screenwriter Sam Catlin have attempted to tackle the inarticulate emotional toll that 9/11 has taken on a group of New Yorkers rather than tell a more visceral story directly related to the tragedy (like Paul Greengrass' "United 93" or Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center"). Unfortunately, the filmmakers' intended cathartic exercise falls significantly short due to a too-subtle patchwork narrative and the film's relentlessly enervating pace. Five unconnected stories begin a year after 9/11, and we are taken through the characters' paces in dealing with some form of emotional denial. The most pertinent thread is initially the most comic one in which a seemingly well-adjusted office worker named Sandie talks to a sardonic psychologist, Dr. Trabulous, about the impact of the tragedy.

The other episodes are somewhat more removed from the events of that day - Avi and Satish, a couple of bickering Indian security agents overseeing the speaking engagement of a foreign diplomat; a married couple, David and Allison, whose overweight adolescent son Charlie has become socially dysfunctional; Judie, an older woman in Brooklyn quietly seething about her tedious marriage as she seeks the company of Jerry, an old schoolmate; and an upscale cake designer named Emme who is trying to land a big client at the expense of her famous rival, Safarah. None of the stories really connect with each other except for a rather contrived scene in an elevator, though that seems to be the filmmakers' point, that the scope of 9/11 affected each of their immediate situations in idiosyncratic ways. The movie only runs 87 minutes, but it takes at least an hour for the stories to take shape toward some common dramatic point. Even then, it still feels too nebulous to make a resonant emotional impact, and consequently, the opportunity for catharsis feels frittered away.

It's not for the lack of a good cast. Stand-up comic Jim Gaffigan brings out Sandie's inner torment palpably as Tony Shalhoub listens with oblique bemusement; Maggie Gyllenhaal displays the steely shallowness of Emme as she faces an unexpected turn; Naseeruddin Shah and Sharat Saxena dexterously show their characters' opposing views on life and what secrets may lie beneath; Judy Greer and Tom McCarthy bring surprising depth to a couple confounded by their son's eruptive violence; and Olympia Dukakis is stoic strength personified as Judie. Edie Falco has nothing more than a cameo as Safarah, but her moments count. New York City is captured crisply by cinematographer Harlan Bosmajian on high-definition video. The DVD has a rather informal but somewhat interesting commentary track by Leiner and Catlin, as well as several deleted scenes and unused footage of the city. An intriguing extra is the ability to watch each of the five episodes separately as individual shorts. There is also the theatrical trailer, a gallery of stills accompanied by the soundtrack, and a helpful blurb about the outreach program organized to deal with post-9/11 trauma.

Seemingly mild-mannered Sandie (Jim Gaffigan) is treated by company therapist Dr. Trabulous (Tony Shalhoub). Allison (Judy Greer) and David Burbage (Tom McCarthy) have volatile son Charlie. Judy Hillerman (Olympia Dukakis) is a jewish wife in a cold marriage. Cake designer Emme Keeler (Maggie Gyllenhaal) has a big upcoming presentation. Danny Keeler (Will Arnett) is her husband and Safarah Polsky (Edie Falco) is her big competitor. Avi and Satish are immigrants from India on a security assignment. These separate stories are happening in and around Manhattan.

This is stacked filled with good actors. The problem is that none of the stories are that compelling. They are barely connected in a peripheral way . They are lackluster separately and aimless. There is limited overarching themes. The indie filming is low res digital. Other than the great cast, there is nothing here. I can't even pick one story that I want to follow.

In Manhattan, after 9-11, several families are struggling with a bevy of issues. Alison (Judy Greer) and Davie (Thomas McCarthy) have an only child, an elementary aged son, who has frequent behavioral issues, at home and at school. They are remarkably patient but, sometimes have difficulty coping when the lad starts fights on the playground and throws tantrums. There are frequent meetings with the school principal (Stephen Colbert). Emme (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is married to a handsome guy (Will Arnett) and runs a top of the line cake baking business but constantly feels overly competitive. Meanwhile, Sandie (Jim Gaffigan), a longtime employee at a downtown firm, has been ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluations with a shrink, Dr. Trabulous (Tony Shaloub). His company thinks Sandie has hidden anger issues and Dr. Trab doesn't make therapy easy, firing very provocative questions at the businessman. Finally, Judy (Olympia Dukakis), a senior lady, feels very unfilled with her husband, who watches television all day and forgets where things are. A chance encounter with a longtime but hardly seen male friend makes her detest her life even more. All the while, as these people travel in and around the Big Apple, a band of Russian emigrants watch over the city as security guards, looking for terrorists. Will any of these folks find happiness? This is a blisteringly bleak film which, naturally, has an upbeat title and smiling faces on the cover. Be warned here that it has very few optimistic moments. Yes, the large cast is truly fine and the NYC setting has lovely venues. Most will find the costumes well-chosen and the photography quite nice. However, the sad, controversial story and the equally provocative direction make for a film few will be comfortable watching. Those who have a challenging child or trouble at work might benefit from a showing. But, to the casual movie fan, this reviewer says stay far away from this one.

The title is a comment made by Sandie (Jim Gaffigan), a patient of Dr. Trabulous (Tony Shaloub), who is trying to deal with his life's problems. It perfectly describes the feeling I had when I watched this film, which is supposed to be four stories about New Yorkers dealing with the trauma brought on by 9/11.

What trauma? Emme (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is trying to get a cake order, and her main competitor (Edie Falco) is not happy that she is the Queen of Cake at the moment.

David (Thomas McCarthy) and Allison (Judy Greer) are so distraught over their monster of a kid that they haven't had sex in 27 days.

Judy (Olympia Dukakis) has a boring life taking care of a husband that just watches TV.

Avi (Naseeruddin Shah) cheated on his wife for the first time.

Are we supposed to believe that all this came about as a result of 9/11. Give me a break! We are watching normal stories about normal lives that would go on regardless of tragedy or trauma.

The lives we see are really not that interesting.

The appearance of "United 93" and "The Great New Wonderful" at around the same time is a very fitting artistic take on the impact of 9/11 on the hearts and minds of Americans. So many other films have cropped up here and there, nearly all of them heartless polemical tirades from various points of view, which I think reflected more on feelings and opinions that existed before 9/11 and merely used the tragedy as a vehicle.

While "United 93" was a monument to the victims of 9/11, and how they faced down the human and political significance of that morning, "The Great New Wonderful" is a reflection of how the rest of us live with the personal, emotional aftermath of that day, whether we had a direct connection to the events or not.

"The Great New Wonderful" will probably be the only film dubbed a '9/11 movie' which didn't resort to any melodramatic exposition from that day to make its point. No flaming towers, no cheap-and-easy "my brother, the fireman who died/my sister, who was in Tower 1/my father, the cop...." plot devices. It vividly demonstrates the emotional, collateral role that 9/11 played in the lives of tens of millions of Americans who lived through that day and were shaken and transformed in ways that were too personal to articulate to others or themselves.

Beyond the film's calendar setting and the concluding moments which take place at about 9am on September 11, 2002, there is only one oblique reference to the attacks impacting a character directly, hidden among the films many humorous lines (an apt New York coping mechanism woven through the whole script), and it becomes a climax of its own, the moment in the story when each character's pent-up personal hell explodes forth.

Mid-way through the film, many of the far-flung characters end up together in an elevator. There is a sudden jolt, the lights flicker, and the sound of rattling cables and wires fills the space. It is a mere moment. Then, the elevator restarts and arrives at the floor of Sandie (Jim Gaffigan), who has spent the film attending therapy sessions in his company's break room with Dr. Trabulous (played by the sublime Tony Shaloub) to discuss some unnamed office tragedy which took place on "the 7th floor" of the company's offices in which several co-workers were killed. Sandie steps off the elevator, and a cranky old man in the back corner, seen earlier asking a cantankerous question at a Queens neighborhood meeting, mutters "well, you made it out alive," to which the cheery Sandie replied, "yeah!" and smiles. Minutes later, Sandie has finally opened up with Dr. Trabulous, in tears, realizing that behind his scarily cheerful, productive, doe-eyed American veneer he is seething with rage and anguish and trauma. In due course, the explosion inside Sandie is so primal that he leaves the doctor with a head wound on the floor and flees on foot to his parents' home in Connecticut.

But Sandie is an exception -- being the only presumed direct victim of the attacks, he is the only one with a doctor caring for his wounds. The rest of the characters -- from Olympia Dukakis' somnabulent, elderly housewife to the self-absorbed yuppie couple (Judy Greer and Thomas McCarthy) who cannot grasp the venality of their son's mental illness -- like us were left to struggle alone. Perhaps the most ingenious subplot involves the pointless rivalry between Maggie Gyllenhaal and Edie Falco, a signature New York/U.S. upper-class drama in a laughably (but all too believable) superfluous world where rich, idiotic clients pay tens of thousands of dollars for birthday cakes, and the two wealthy cake-artists are vying for the decisive favor of a spoiled, uninterested teen-aged heiress. (Will Arnett's turn as Gyllenhaal's pampered husband is a great touch.) So brilliant -- cakes! -- representing the ruthless spiritual hollowness of so much of Manhattan's gliteratti before 9/11, and as Falco says in her one, powerful scene, "it's amazing how after everything that has happened, everything is still the same."

"The Great New Wonderful" is such an unsentimental, powerfully true look in the mirror; it is required-viewing in the 9/11 oeuvre. While "United 93" is a raw, draining and ultimately necessary catharsis akin to an open-casket wake, this film will stay with you much, much longer. It makes stark moral statements -- some might even argue it explores the human, non-political, universal root of the murderous criminality of 9/11 itself -- and sometimes the audience's reaction in the theater (keep an eye out for when the nervous laughter in the room subsides, or if it subsides at all) is just as fascinating as the action on screen.

This movie was freakin' incomprehensible. It's five separate stories. I get it. But, uh, is it a story when nothing really happens? When you don't know where someone is starting from and where they get to? When it's completely unclear what any of their motivations are, or what we're supposed to think about the choices they make, if they're choices at all? When two of the main characters seem to do something heartless and reprehensible and we're clearly supposed to be enormously happy for them? This movie was like some haiku from a drunk guy that everyone in your freshman dorm thought was deep, but only because they were swimming in a cloud of marijuana smoke so thick that you could use it for building material.

Maggie Gyllenhal is pretty, though. And those Indian guys were good actors. Hope they find better scripts.

With a strong cast including Tony Shalhoub and Maggie Gyllenhaal, we assumed this "brilliant comedy" would at least be moderately funny. We were wrong. Not only were the moments of humor rare, but the overwhelming lack of motivation left us scratching our heads. The actors did engage, and each character had enough depth to sustain an interest, but only enough to feel let down at the end. Apparently, the movie was "about" 9-11, and if the point was to portray the feeling of pointlessness and futility that many of us felt after the attacks; mission accomplished. At least it didn't meet the 90 minute minimum for Oscar consideration, or we would've had to hear people talk about how great it was.

I can understand some of the negative comments: if you like movies that lead you by the hand -or that always explain things in some tidy, obvious package- then this probably isn't the right movie for you. Others who've rated this movie positively have written eloquently about it. Seek out those reviews. They are a nice (and, for me, welcome) balance to a few rants that seem to have been written by users who may have picked up this film expecting it to be some kind of Stephen Colbert comedy. I imagine that for those same folks the film's inter-splicing of wide shots of lower Manhattan were somewhat meaningless. But for me they were beautiful and, inevitably, achingly hollow. Similarly, the film resonated with me in quiet yet powerful way: That is my New York. Those are the people I walk by or share elevators with, but never know. And those are the feelings that still seep into us all, even as we press through the motions of our separate lives.

Everyone does a stellar job of being ordinary and boring. The movie hangs together well enough, its just not the slice of life I would want to view for any length of time. Shaloub was the motivation for watching the film, and he doesn't disappoint. Tony's "Monk" character is starting to capture his face and makes it hard not to think of Adrian. He might want to dump that part soon so he doesn't end up pigeon holed. There isn't enough Shaloub in the movie to redeem it for me. It was just a little uninteresting.

The couple with the psychotic son were unbelievable at best. I suppose its better than some. Decide for yourself. If you don't want to bounce between stories use the DVD special bonus feature that lets you watch each story individually.

Stumbled on this film on Indieplex and was amazed at the reaction of people to the film, saying that it is the "Worst Movie Ever". Not by a long shot.

The film works at some curious levels. It is a send-up of movies that have a plot that comes together at the end. If you are looking for resolution, go see a formula movie. There are five independent stories with a common setting, New York. The stories, like our lives, may only have just that much in common. The stories all are threaded and we are left to believe that the stories have this common "unrevealed" meaning. The teasers to 9/11 (the sirens in the city, the plane flying over in all the stories, several of the characters getting into an elevator together, etc.) are just to make you think that the story is really about 9/11. It is about living our lives.

For me, the best line was the Councilman at the civic meeting where he is running for office and he says "The Mayor and Governor want you to be scared. But I, for one, will not be scared".... to very polite applause and uncontrolled laughter by Dick Lavilla's character. I think I understand what Jerry was laughing at.

This movie attempts weave 5 stories into one but fails miserably*. The supposed link is to 9/11 but the link is actually missing. The references to 9/11 are so subtle as to be non-existent.

I viewed this movie on DVD it features the ability to view each story as a contiguous whole. After watching each story individually to try to understand the point of the movie I realized that the movie is pointless.

*(For a good example of how to weave together stories, see "Love, Actually".)

Don't waste your time with this movie

Probably the worst movie I've seen in awhile.

Seems to be a very insular New Yorker oriented movie with no particular direction or point. Very slow. A mix of peculiar and pretentious.

If someone has told you this movie is a comedy, it is not. It is more like an ensemble slice- of-life that follows 5 sets of people in New York. The only even amusing portion of the movie is the part which follows a couple of middle-aged, east-Indian body guards. The other stories are not particularly interesting and even annoying. Various good actors are wasted, including Maggie Gyllenhaal, Olympia Dukakis and Stephen Colbert.

I suppose this movie is supposed to reflect the unease of New yorkers after 9-11, but if so it seems the worst sort of exploitation. The movie mostly just causes unease.

See this movie if you like scenes of post 9-11 New York and you don't mind being bored and uncomfortable for about an hour and a half.

If hysteria was the symptom of the nineteenth century and schizophrenia that of the twentieth, The Great New Wonderful, confronts the question of what symptoms will characterize the twenty-first – and what better place to look than Post 9/11 New York City? Dr. Trabulous (Tony Shalhoub) nails it when he says that he senses in patient Sandie (Jim Gaffigan) "anger" and "disappointment". These symptoms characterize the five stories that weave through the film.

In Emme's story we see a fancy cake maker (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who is trying to nab the top spot from competitor Safarah Polsky (Edie Falco). David (Thomas McCarthy) and Allison (Judy Greer) are struggling to raise a troubled, overweight, possibly violent child. Judy Hillerman (Olympia Dukakis) finds herself going through the motions in her Coney Island prison of a middle class life and in Avi's story, he (Naseeruddin Shah) and his partner face changed expectations of other people. In each anger and disappointment hold sway. The film has very subtle references to its post-9/11 setting. Avi looks up when he hears a plane pass overhead. Allison turns on the nature noises machine on the bedside table in an unsuccessful attempt to drown out the noise of sirens that fills the bedroom. And Safari Polsky, bowing under the weight of her own ambition, sighs when she says that after all that has happened nothing has changed. The tension builds throughout the film and the comedy becomes blacker as we understand the characters better and come to empathize with their symptoms.

Danny Liener, Sam Catlin and Matt Tauber do a great job weaving the stories together into a coherent whole, despite the ambiguities left in each story. The film does not attempt to answer the questions it poses, simply extracting them from what seems like a smooth exterior. Cinematographer Harlan Bosmajian does an incredible job with limited time and resources creating a fantastic looking film.

Like Salman Rushdie's book, Fury, GNW illustrates the underlying anger characterizing contemporary cosmopolitan life and the fine line that separates civilization from the bubbling up of this fury and chaos. Add the post-traumatic stress of 9/11 and you get an amazing story of society and humanity. As Rushdie writes, "But our nature is our nature and uncertainty is at the heart of what we are, uncertainty per se, in and of itself, the sense that nothing is written in stone, everything crumbles. As Marx was probably still saying out there in the junkyard of ideas, . . . all that is solid melts into air. In a public climate of such daily-trumpeted assurance, where did our fears go to hide? On what did they feed? On ourselves, perhaps . . . "

I love all the actors, which is why I rented the movie. I expected a character study, given who's in the ensemble, but I had hoped for an interesting one. Sadly, it's another example of New Yorkers thinking they're the center of the universe and anything about them must be wonderful.

Sadly, the characters were paint-by-number and the plots trite (when they existed) and the endings completely predictable. If the idea was that these were "typical stories", for a guy who grew up in Texas, lived many years in California and now lives overseas, the movie, it just reinforced how shallow and foolish movie makers in NY are and how badly they view their own fellow citizens.

I will admit I had been looking forward to checking out this film for a while now. Hearing stuff about how it was a great character based drama in a post-9/11 New York City and how it really held meaning and was a catharsis for those who watched. Just the fact that it was a serious dramatic turn for director Danny Leiner, yes he of Harold and Kumar fame, was enough to pique my interest. In the end, however, the film really fell flat for me and besides the numerous references to the horrific event, The Great New Wonderful didn't need to have it as a backdrop. Sure there are some really nice moments, but overall it just shows stories of vapid people going through their meaningless existences until they finally let go from the tragedy that hit. Are we to believe that once the shock went away these people's lives changed for the better? that without 9/11 they would still be trapped in useless existences not being able to break free? Well if that is the case, than we need global tragedies more often because they really make the world think about life and become better people as a result. Maybe one needs to be a New Yorker to get the film, but I just didn't see the greatness, just exploitation about how the Twin Towers falling changed a few people in the city and made their lives understandable in its context because they weren't good enough people to see their wrongs without it.

We are given an all-star cast here, with many actors that I truly enjoy watching. They even do a pretty good job with what they are given, and I can't really fault any of them besides the fact they read the script and still wanted to be involved. Maggie Gyllenhaal is great as a cake designer discovering the utter uselessness of her job in a world that should mean more than five thousand dollar pastries. Judy Greer and Thomas McCarthy are fantastic as a husband and wife duo trying to survive professional and personal hardship while their troubled child devolves into a monster. This segment is interesting as a concept and I would almost like to see it as its own movie. I mean besides a racial slur from their son, the entire story has nothing to do with 9/11 at all, but just an emotional piece of family struggle. Even Jim Gaffigan surprises with his nuanced performance opposite Tony Shalhoub. The rapport between the two is electric and could have really gone somewhere instead of languishing in an awkwardly comedic setting, ending somewhat laughably with Shalhoub's sly smile into the camera.

Thankfully there are a couple moments that worked completely for me. Olympia Dukakis is amazing as a wife who has been creatively and emotionally stifled by her husband and monotonous existence. Only when she meets an old friend from the past and sees how he can laugh and care about the little things in life, does she open up to herself to try again at living her life the way she wants to. The best section of the film, however, contains two Indian bodyguards protecting a General in town for a run of speeches. Sharat Saxena is effective as the troubled one suppressing his anger with everything that has gone on, but it is his partner, played by Naseeruddin Shah who steals the show. A consummate family man, Shah does all he can to lighten the mood of his friend and just speaks about random things going on around them, flirting with the women going in and out of their paths and finally confronting Saxena to get the point across that "life is too short, if anything we should all know that now." The conclusion of their arc really hits home in a surprising turn of events and becomes the only reason I would recommend the film to anyone to see.

I don't know, call me old fashioned. I expect a movie to go somewhere. The movie is a series of mini-plots that don't add up to anything. In it's attempt to create subtle profiles of post 9-11 lives in NYC, it ended up saying nothing. I gave it two stars because the acting was excellent, and the director did a really good job of getting us interested in the characters. Too bad it failed at everything else.

someone intentionally wanted to make a terrible film and it is dumb like a crumb...my friend saw it and said it was dumb too....i don't get the point of the film...say the writer in my opinion intentionally wanted to write a ridiculous, ludicrous and senseless movie Pricing, in marketing is highly important. When speaking about pricing, we are saying that price is the value on what is exchanged. Normally, something that has value is exchanged for either satisfaction or else for utility. If a certain product is worth Lm25, customers automatically think if the utility gained from this product is worth the buying power that has to be sacrificed. In every company, marketers study the value customers place in their minds on every single product, and therefore this is how later on they are given a basis on giving products various prices. As stated above, pricing is important, in the market world, it is considered to be the most important aspect and also the hardest thing to arrive to.