Ask any girl which sleepover movie she calls her favorite and Love & Basketball is sure to be one of them. The tale of a challenging relationship and the triumph of true love is enough to make a girl swoon.

Love & Basketball star Sanaa Lathan returns in Something New, Sanaa Hamri’s directorial debut whose bubbly cast and not-too-saccharine romantics make it the breezy movie it aims to be.

Lathan plays Kenya McQueen, a career-driven senior manager at an L.A. accounting firm where she’s up for partner. With a life that reads like an At-a-Glance planner, Kenya has everything in life except love, as she tells her girlfriends during a Sex & the City-esque conversation. The overly anal Kenya runs down her list of essential qualities of her IBM – Ideal Black Man: education, height, no kids, straight teeth and the list continues.

Following her girlfriends’ advice, Kenya agrees to a blind date with Brian Kelly (Simon Baker). Kenya feels a spark, but it scares her that Brian is white. Soon his relaxed attitude rubs off, and Kenya falls for him. Cue a few funny “white-people-can’t-jump” joke.

But things get complicated when Kenya meets Mark (Blair Underwood) – her perfect IBM – and Kenya is left torn between what’s safe and what’s new.

Something New doesn’t try too hard to be anything more than a simple romantic comedy. The entire film is colorful, from the sets and costumes to the two main characters and supporting cast, dominated by Scrubs’ Donald Faison.

Although the chemistry between Lathan and Baker sometimes slips, there’s enough heat to make girls squeal with happiness and jealousy. Baker’s character could have had more depth than just the rugged, care-free type, but this story is about Kenya and the way she copes with being outside her comfort zone.

Something New is this year’s Valentine flick pick – a Love & Basketball for a new generation.

– Archana Ram