In theaters February 3rd, “Something New” is the latest movie featuring an interracial theme:

A romantic comedy about finding love where it’s least expected, Something New marks the feature directorial debut of Sanaa Hamri. If love is an adventure, it’s one yet to be embarked upon by Kenya Denise McQueen (Sanaa Lathan). A beautiful L.A. career woman, Kenya works as a senior manager at a prestigious accounting firm, and is on the verge of making partner. But she has yet to find her own partner and a fulfilling personal life. It’s not that she’s stopped looking; her (mental) checklist is at the ready. After another Valentine’s Day spent working late, Kenya agrees to a blind date with Brian Kelly (Simon Baker), a sexy and free-spirited landscape architect who turns out to be not exactly what she’d pictured for herself. Then again, she does need the yard of her new house fixed up… Her girlfriends Cheryl, Suzzette, and Nedra (Wendy Raquel Robinson, Golden Brooks, Taraji P. Henson) are there for her with advice, while Cheryl’s new beau Walter (Mike Epps) shares a male perspective with Brian. Kenya’s socially prominent parents Joyce and Edmond (Alfred Woodard, Earl Billings) and womanizing younger brother Nelson (Donald Faison) also voice their own opinions. But it’s when her perfect match, Mark (Blair Underwood), enters the picture that Kenya is truly thrown into confusion. Ultimately, Kenya has to decide for herself and follow her heart - no matter where it takes her.

More links:

• The Movie Insider
• IMDB
• Rotten Tomatoes
• Yahoo

If you see this movie, please share your personal review in the comments.

Don’t miss NPR’s Interracial Couples More Common in Media:

Multi-ethnic couples appear frequently on TV and in other media genres — but do those Hollywood-based relationships mirror the real life challenges that interracial couples sometimes face? Todd Boyd, professor of critical studies at the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television, offers his take on the media’s representation of mixed-race couples.

Don’t miss NPR’s Interracial Couples in America:

Tony Cox examines mixed-race relationships in America with guests Debra Dickerson, author of the book The End of Blackness and Carmen Van Kerckhove, co-director of New Demographic, a diversity training company.

A USA Today’s article discusses current interracial relationship trends on television and the minimal reaction to them:

Interracial pairings suddenly are integral to several of today’s top-rated TV shows, including Grey’s, Lost, My Name Is Earl and ER.

But these on-screen pairings no longer draw the kind of attention and reaction they did in the ’60s and ’70s. Romances between people of different colors are being handled more offhandedly, with race being neither an issue nor much of a plot point.

and

“The reality is that interracial couples still deal with discrimination and hate,” says Carmen Van Kerckhove, co-director of New Demographic, a diversity training company. “It’s a positive thing that we’re seeing less of a tragic element. Television models for us what we should think about people, really determines our taboos and what’s acceptable. The more people see positive and normal representations, that will lessen the fear and taboo.”

and

In real life, the gap slowly is narrowing. According to the most recent Census, interracial marriages grew from less than 1% in 1970 to nearly 6% in 2000. And as more of the world becomes a melting pot, interracial relationships have popped up more frequently on TV as well, though often tangentially. Some examples:

• Debra Messing’s Grace dated guest star Gregory Hines on Will & Grace in 2000.

• David Schwimmer’s Ross character fell for Aisha Tyler’s Charlie on Friends in 2003.

• Gary Dourdan’s Warrick has a history with Marg Helgenberger’s Catherine on CSI.

So as the TV landscape has evolved, the issue now is less of whether mixed couples are featured on top shows, but when, how and if the writers will make their race part of the story line.

Read the article in its entirety.

Whether you believe in his innocence or guilt, PBS Frontline has created an extensive online report:

On October 3, 1995, an estimated 150 million people stopped what they were doing to witness the televised verdict of the O.J. Simpson trial. For more than a year, the O.J. saga transfixed the nation and dominated the public imagination. Ten years later, veteran FRONTLINE producer Ofra Bikel (The Plea, Innocence Lost), revisits the “perfect storm” that was the O. J. Simpson trial. Through extensive interviews with the defense, prosecution, and journalists, FRONTLINE explores the dominant role that race played in the most controversial verdict in the history of the American justice system.

Start here.