Our take
After a man spends his entire trust fund, what is there to do for the poor bachelor? One might think he might try to get in the good graces of his family, or perhaps work for a living (the horror!). Instead, Henry Graham decides he must marry a wealthy woman in A New Leaf. What occurs next is a witty turnaround of the gold-digger tale, as his initial straightforward plan to marry-then-murder awkward heiress Henrietta Lowell accidentally turns him into a better person, or at least, a person with the willingness to do something other than spending. Pitting Henry’s self-interest against Henrietta’s love for botany and her disinterest in her own inheritance, A New Leaf crafts a clever comedy with a cynical yet charming romance.
Streaming arrival
What it won
Golden Globes
2 noms
WGA
1 nom
The story
After running out of funds, Henry Graham, a carefree playboy, plots to marry and murder wealthy botanist Henrietta Lowell.
Elsewhere
"Reveals the essence of marital love more brutally than many confrontational melodramas."
— Richard Brody
"The wistful, fierce integrity of these personalities, viewed with a detached amusement, allows the film to bypass the usual agenda of subjects (sex, the System, etc.) of current comedy... and lends a particular vivacity to the comic set-pieces."
— Richard Combs
Who picked it
Isabella Endrinal is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. She's now free from the corporate night shift. Previous articles have been published in outlets such as NANG Magazine. She's currently catching up on some classic films… if she isn't coping with the fact that the Haikyu anime will end soon.
