review for A New Kind of Love on AllMovie

Considering the star power that it packs and the fact that it's a romantic comedy set in Paris, one would expect A New Kind of Love to be a much better film than it is. Sadly, this Love is anything but new, and what could have been a charming and funny little piece of fluff is instead tired and sometimes exasperating. It's helped along by its cast and its fashions, but New ends up being at best moderately entertaining. Chief blame lies with Melville Shavelson, who wrote, directed and produced the film. His production is fine; if there's not enough actual on-location filming in Paris, there's still plenty of haute couture on display and the general physical production is polished. But the story is trite and decidedly dated in its male-female attitudes, the dialogue is inconsistent in its wit, the would-be satire lacks bite and there are far too few surprises along the way. His direction is perhaps a bit better, but terribly uneven, and he makes the already-questionable fantasy sequences fall flat on their faces. New does feature the talents of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, and their sheer charisma adds a lot to the film. But neither is at his/her best here, with Newman in particular a bit awkward at times. The supporting cast, however, doesn't disappoint, with Thelma Ritter, as usual, taking top honors in the kind of role she could play with her eyes shut.