Pino Mike Epps as Walter, Cheryl's husband Julie Mond as Penelope, Brian's Ex Lee Garlington as Mrs. Cahan Taraji P. Henson as Nedra, Kenya's friend Wendy Raquel Robinson as Cheryl, Kenya's friend Golden Brooks as Suzette, Kenya's friend Tanisha Harper as Stacy Critical reception Something New received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a approval rating based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads: "Something New tackles serious questions about race and interracial relationships with genuine appeal and an alluring romance that develops as naturally as the plot." On Metacritic, the film received an average score of 64 out of 100, based on 28 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called the film "a pleasantly diverting romance ... [in which] the chemistry between the leads is as unmistakable as the setup is contrived ... The lovely Ms. Lathan ... and the similarly attractive Mr. Baker ... don't just look good together; they feel right in sync. Their easy, sensual rapport partly owes something to the generally sure hand of the film's director, Sanaa Hamri, making a fine feature debut, and something else, something indefinable, to the delectable mysteries of two bodies in cinematic motion." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times rated the film 3½ out of four stars and commented, "I found myself unexpectedly moved." He continued, "By the end, Something New delivers all the usual pleasures of a love story, and something more. The movie respects its subject and characters, and is more complex about race than we could possibly expect. With this film and the completely different but also observant Queen Latifah comedy Last Holiday, black women are being paid a kind of attention they deserve but rarely get in the movies." Kevin Crust of the Los Angeles Times called the film "superficial and formulaic but pleasant enough to entertain and qualifies as intelligent and sophisticated by the current standard of Hollywood comedy." He added, "The movie nicely captures the area around Baldwin Hills, is crisply written by Kriss Turner and portrays the upper-middle class black community seldom seen in mainstream TV and film. However, the characterizations, even the leads, rarely rise above archetypes. The film's lack of depth as it oversimplifies the complexities of racism keep it from being anything other than a lightweight date movie." Ruthe Stein of the San