Here is a riveting and quirky movie set in New York City about the ways in which the aftershocks of 9/11 play out in the lives of a group of people still in denial a year later. Dr. Trabulous (Tony Shalhoub), a psychologist, is interviewing Sandie (Jim Gaffigan), an office worker who lost several co-workers in the terrorist attack. He is a normal guy going through a bad patch with his Jewish girlfriend and trying to just get by financially. But the psychologist sees an angry and disappointed man behind the shy and unassuming façade he presents to the world. Sandie claims that everything is okay but as the therapist probes every aspect of his life, the ground begins to shift and we see the cracks in his psyche.
Emme Keeler (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a shrewd and ambitious young woman who owns The Great New Wonderful, a pastry company that has lost out to the Queen of Cake, Safarah (Edie Falco), a woman who doesn't seem to be handling her success and fame very well. At a restaurant, Safarah tells her competitor that she wouldn't mind getting out of the business and then launches into a fantasy about observing the lives of penguins. Emme can be merciless in her pursuit of a client as she demonstrates when a gay member of her staff makes a slip in a presentation and it seems like the project is lost. Emme fires him in a moment of boiling and slurs his sexual orientation in her parting words. Later, a shocking event staggers Emme and she breaks down emotionally.
Allison (Judy Geer) and David Burbage (Tom McCarthy) are having a lot of trouble with their ten-year-old son Charlie (Billy Donner) who is disobedient at home and violent to his classmates at school. The principal (Stephen Colbert) has suspended him six times in six months. Allison and David are at the end of their ropes emotionally; they haven't had sex in 27 days and just don't know how to reach Charlie, who seems to be angry all the time. When the principal tries to break through their wall of denial about the seriousness of the boy's problem, he earns their ire.
Another couple in trouble are Judy Berman (Olympia Dukakis) and her robotic husband who does nothing but watch television all day and after dinner retire to the terrace for a smoke. They do not talk and the only thing that keeps Judy going is the art work she does in their small kitchen. One day, a childhood friend bumps into her, and they reconnect. He is a cheerful man with a sense of humor who in five minutes with Judy brings a sparkle to her eyes. She decides to visit him in Coney Island where he has a place overlooking the water.
Best friends Avi (Naseerudin Shah) and Satish (Sharat Saxena), working class immigrants, are security guards. They live next door to each other with their wives and families. Avi is the sociable one who always keeps his eye on the ladies whereas Satish is more reserved and puritanical. The two men are watching over an Indian general who is in New York City visiting. Trouble between them starts when Satish is inappropriately rough with a tourist. Then Avi confesses that he had sex with a young woman and now feels guilty about it.
The Great New Wonderful begins with a line Dr. Trabulous says to Sandie: "Shock can be a tricky thing. Sometimes our emotional response to horrific events can be hidden from us, only to appear after some time has passed." The characters in this drama written by Sam Catlin are very fragile and vulnerable people who react in anger and violence when things do not go the way they want. For the most part, they seem to be avoiding the trauma of 9/11. But an elevator stopping between floors or the sight of plane flying low over the city makes them nervous and twitchy. The Great New Wonderful joins September 11 and The Guys with its creative and thought-provoking exploration of the fallout from this traumatic event in New York City and the nation.
