Watch A New Kind of Love For Free

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Admirable film.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

A New Kind Of Love is another attempt by Paul Newman to do comedy. He has a part that maybe Rock Hudson could have carried off. Even playing opposite his wife doesn't do it in the chemistry department. Joanne Woodward is better at comedy than her husband.In fact for a long time you think you're watching two different films, that's how long it takes for these two to get together. Woodward is on a buying trip for her dress manufacturer George Tobias who takes her and Thelma Ritter to Paris. Woodward's a workaholic career woman who's been burned by romance and wants no more. She even dresses unattractive so much so that Paul Newman on the flight over mistakes her for a man.Now Newman's been exiled to Paris by his boss Robert F. Simon who he caught kanoodling with his wife. Well if you're going to be exiled, Paris is certainly a good place. As in all Parisian stories the boy and girl just have to get together, if not in Paris, than where in the world. George Tobias and Thelma Ritter who are usually a lot better merely walk through their parts. The best reason to see A New Kind of Love is for Maurice Chevalier's cameo as himself when he sings Mimi, Louise, and the title song which incidentally he introduced back in 1930 in The Big Pond. Eva Gabor is around to turn Tobias's head by just being Eva Gabor.Paul Newman would have to wait more than a decade for triumphant comedy in Slap Shot. He just doesn't cut it in more sophisticated material.

Okay, so it's not an art piece, a great classic, or a stellar example of brilliant film- making. But does every movie have to be? This movie is cute, charming and clean (especially when compared to the most of the filth being made today). Paris looks gorgeous, as do Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, and the haute couture fashions are to die for. Sometimes you're just in the mood for something light and frothy, where you don't need to think, analyze or criticize. This movie is ideal for that purpose. I particularly enjoyed the witty comments in the opening credits regarding the fashions used in the picture. While not worth running out and buying (although thanks to my husband and an Amazon wish list accident I do now own the DVD), it would certainly be worth watching if it ran on TV, or even renting if you have a particular fondness for this era, or these actors.

The first five minutes were clever and funny, giving me high hopes, but it went downhill after that--down a very steep hill. Joanne Woodward's wardrobe was atrocious, even when she was supposed to have dolled up! Thelma Ritter had nothing to do but whine and certainly deserved better. Woodward, Newman, Ritter--so much talent given so little to work with! The whole sequence with Maurice Chevalier and the parade in the streets made me feel embarrassed for the writers and for Chevalier. The attitude toward women (marriage is what every woman really wants) was very annoying, but given the era, I could have overlooked that if there had been something entertaining somewhere in the move. Don't waste your time.

As far as pairings of Joanne Woodward and husband Paul Newman go, "A New Kind of Love" lacks the snappy plot and dramatic depth necessary to do its leading actors justice. Woodward steals the show as Sam, a homely and somewhat androgynous fashion designer often mistaken for a man (it's the pageboy haircut and constantly smoldering cigarette in her mouth); Newman is aesthetically pleasing (and alarmingly convincing) in the role of handsome, sarcastic Steve, a New York journalist who pursues more young women than hot story leads. After an initial awkward opening sequence, the first forty or so minutes of the film are stimulating, with intriguing color schemes and costumes, quick wit and acerbic dialogue, beautiful Parisian scenery and an escalating plot line. Beyond that, however, the plot seems to drag, and frequent unnecessary departures are made from it - the musical montage with Maurice Chevalier, for instance, slows the film down and only serves to severely date the film (not to mention alienate any viewer who is clueless as to who, exactly, Maurice Chevalier is.) Some scenes are played out far beyond their initial artistic effect (the split-screen sequences), while others are confusing and impede the general flow of the storyline (Steve's visions of bawdy tales played out like sports), giving the story an air of ridiculousness instead of credibility.All in all, this light comedy shines with the sheer romantic energy of Newman and Woodward (I found myself re-watching various parts of the film just to marvel at the undeniable chemistry between the two), but has none of the lasting impact of the pair's other films. It leaves one feeling a bit unsated, perhaps because of the overly-muddled plot that seems to have been convoluted merely to stretch the movie into a 90-minute romp - but the beautiful Woodward sparkles with natural talent, and Newman's on screen presence compliments hers seemingly without effort. Fans of Paul and Joanne will be charmed, but not moved, by this New Kind of Love.