Speak up!

By Connie Ogle, The Miami Herald

If you can struggle through the first half of New in Town, you might end up deciding that it's a pleasant enough distraction from life's harsh realities (the collapsed housing market, mounting unemployment, the fact that the Department of Transportation refuses to stop shutting down lanes on I-95). But that ''if'' may be insurmountable. The ghastly first half of this romantic comedy -- co-written by the screenwriter of Sweet Home Alabama, so wan and poorly conceived it made Reese Witherspoon unappetizing -- is as close to unwatchable as any moment in Bride Wars. The fact that it stars Renée Zellweger just makes it harder to bear.

Zellweger's appeal, honed in Jerry Maguire and Bridget Jones's Diary, has worn thin over the years, and while her brittle, starved, pinch-faced persona suits the character of the tremendously unlikable corporate drone Lucy Hill, the character's inevitable transformation seems as fantastical as the latest developments from Narnia. Lucy is a Miami exec sent to New Ulm, Minn., where the townspeople are poorly coiffed, good-hearted halfwits who eat copious amounts of tapioca, like to scrapbook, ice fish or engage in other sorts of homespun fun. (Apparently there are no Xboxes or meth labs in New Ulm.) They also say ''patootie'' and ''you betcha'' repeatedly, as if auditioning for a Fargo sequel.

There to oversee layoffs at a factory, Lucy is supposed to be one of the rising stars at her firm, but she's not even bright enough to bring a coat on her trip north. In the winter. To Minnesota. Miamians pull out the leather and fleece when the temperature drops below 70. None of us is going to slide into a miniskirt and stilettos to traipse around in a snowstorm, so what Lucy is thinking is hard to imagine. She goes on to behave like a shrew to everybody in New Ulm, especially to truck-drivin' Ted, the local labor representative (a hirsute Harry Connick Jr.) for whom she is clearly destined to fall. This part of the movie is actually believable; Connick isn't so bad, despite the lousy role with which he's been saddled. But why Ted would look twice at *****y Lucy remains a mystery. Stick to your beers and brats, man. You'll be happier in the long run.

The film improves slightly as it chugs along, trying to pick up steam as a corny, feel-good ''let's save the factory!'' story, not such a bad idea in these trying economic times. We could use an upbeat film with a solid Frank Capra vibe. But New in Town doesn't elicit a rah-rah spirit so much as it reawakens the cynical thought that such lazy screenwriters deserve to be out of work.

Cast: Renée Zellweger, Harry Connick Jr., Siobhan Fallon, J.K. Simmons, Frances Conroy

Director: Jonas Elmer

Screenwriters: Ken Rance, C. Jay Cox

Producers: Paul Brooks, Tracey E. Edmonds, Phyllis Laing, Andrew Paquin, Peter Safran, Darryl Taja

A Universal release. Running time: 96 minutes. Language, some suggestive material. Playing at area theaters.