Themes: Intersecting Lives, Therapy, Haunted By the Past
Main Cast: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Olympia Dukakis, Judy Greer, Naseeruddin Shah
Release Year: 2005
Country: US
Run Time: 88 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A collection of everyday New Yorkers struggle to carry on with their increasingly stressful lives a year after the city was forever changed by the 9/11 terrorist attacks in Brooklyn-native Danny Leiner's ensemble-cast slice of life. Dr. Trabulous (Tony Shalhoub) is a gifted psychologist with a special knack for truly understanding his patients. When an ordinary businessman (Jim Gaffigan) who has witnessed a terrible office tragedy seeks to gain the insight of the seasoned professional, Dr. Trabulous helps to release a hidden rage that has slowly been eating away at the man's troubled soul. Meanwhile, in the culinary world, Great New Wonderful pastry shop proprietor Emme Keeler (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is about to discover that unseating the woman known as the Queen of Cake (Edie Falco) doesn't come without some heavy consequences. Elsewhere in the city, troubled couple Allison (Judy Greer) and David Burbage (Tom McCarthy) fight to save their marriage and break through to their curiously overconfident ten-year-old boy. Avi (Naseeruddin Shah) and Satish (Sharat Saxena) are immigrants and best friends who work together as security guards and wander the city making observations about contemporary America until their opposing perspectives are challenged by an unexpected development in their lives that neither saw coming. And despite the comfort she takes in her daily routine, Julie Berman (Olympia Dukakis) discovers that her passion for life has long since died, until a visit with a childhood friend helps her to realize just what she's been missing all these lonely years. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
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.
