The Great New Wonderful is a series of vignettes of incidents taking place concurrently around Manhattan. The only other thing linking the incidents is the month in which they occur: September 2002. Recurring themes include frustration and sugar.
The vignettes include:
An accountant (Jim Gaffigan) undergoing a therapy session in the office of a passive-aggressive psychologist (Tony Shalhoub).
Two immigrants from India on security detail for a visiting dignitary.
An ambitious pastry chef (Maggie Gyllenhaal) preparing a professional pitch that she hopes will make her the reigning doyenne of New York's competitive cake scene.
A Brooklyn housewife (Olympia Dukakis) fixes her husband's dinner and then sits at the kitchen table making collages out of old magazines while her husband sits on the balcony, smoking a cigarette.
Allison & David Burbage (Judy Greer & Tom McCarthy) struggle to keep their marriage together while coping with their increasingly difficult and strangely self-possessed 10-year-old son.
On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 73% based on 41 reviews, and an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Set in post-9/11 New York, this largely evocative dramedy interweaves the stories of five disconnected individuals who share an unspoken emotional malaise that shadows their attempts at returning to normal life."[2] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[3]
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