Something New is a romantic comedy with heart, honesty and substance, but isn’t all hearts and flowers. The film centers on Kenya Denise McQueen (Sanaa Lathan), who almost has every aspect of her life in order, including the purchase of a new house, supportive friends, family, and a prestigious job at a top accounting firm. All aspects, that is, except when it comes to finding order in areas of the heart.

At the start of the film she hasn’t found that special someone. Due to family pressure to find someone who is socially acceptable in her upper-class life, combined with her own long list of requirements for the type of man she wants to marry, she’s not having much luck finding someone who fits the bill.

She’s especially dispirited after hearing that over 42% of African American women never marry and impulsively agrees to a blind date with Brian Kelly (Simon Baker), a sexy, free-spirited landscape architect, who isn’t exactly what she pictured for herself, especially given that he’s white. While not the man she had in mind for romance, she hires him to fix up the yard of her new house and finds herself irresistibly drawn to his earthy, laid-back charm and pursuit.

The two enter into a romance that she tries to keep a secret due to the fact that they are an interracial couple, and because it seems everyone, including her girlfriend, has an opinion about the relationship. Her socially prominent parents, Joyce and Edmond (Alfre Woodard of Desperate Housewives and Earl Billings), make things especially uncomfortable for the pair, as does her outraged womanizing younger brother Nelson, played by Scrubs and Clueless star Donald Faison.

And when Kenya finally meets her theoretical perfect match, corporate attorney Mark (Blair Underwood), she is further thrown into confusion, re-questioning her list and whether it’s based on love or conformity. Ultimately, Kenya must decide between the relationship everyone expects her to have and the romance she didn’t expect.

Kenya is so uptight at first and Brian so laid-back that you wonder if it’s race that’s in the way of them having a successful relationship or their varying personalities, but eventually it’s the contrast that means they complement each other and it brings them together. The character of Brian is also extremely understanding, patient and romantic; you can’t help but get annoyed at Kenya for not realizing the right choice sooner.