Ah, the old use-the-credit-card-to-scrape-off-the-windshield trick. Renee Zellweger gets a big dose of Minnesota realism in "New in Town." (Rebecca Sandulak)

The minute Siobhan Fallon Hogan appeared on-screen in "New in Town," my worries about it evaporated. And she never let me down.

In its ads, "New in Town" appears to be about a big-city gal (Renee Zellweger in a part much like the one she played in "Leatherheads") who shows residents of New Ulm, Minn., what dopes they are. In fact, it's about the Minnesotans showing Zellweger what a brittle, condescending snoot she is. Instead of making fun of faith, friendship and small-town values, "New in Town" says there might just be something there that would benefit a corporate high-roller from Miami.

Zellweger has been sent to close down a New Ulm butter plant, although she doesn't tell anyone that. She kills time by flirting with a local labor leader (Harry Connick Jr.) and hanging with the women of New Ulm, who try to interest her in scrapbooking, making tapioca and wearing sweaters that tell stories.

You don't have to have seen many romantic comedies to know where Zellweger and Connick's shouting matches will lead. "New in Town" is refreshingly old-fashioned, but it freshens up the romance with a Frank Capra-like, triumph-of-the-little-guy subplot in which New Ulm's residents fight to keep the plant open and their livelihoods safe.

It's in this subplot that the movie's, and director Jonas Elmer's, tender affection for the supporting Minnesotans is most evident. For instance, Hogan — whose name, Blanche Gunderson, is partly borrowed from "Fargo" — makes

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tapioca obsessively. Although that initially seems to be a joke about what a hick she is, it eventually becomes clear that giving people tapioca is her way to reach out when she's too shy or sad to speak.

Zellweger and Connick are likable in the lead roles, and J.K. Simmons ("Juno's" dad) is a low-key gas as a plant supervisor. But Hogan is the heart and soul of "New in Town." Although the movies sometimes have a hard time creating characters who are kind without also making them dull, Hogan's Blanche is smart and quirky. Her enthusiastic timing and warmth make Blanche Gunderson almost as memorable a character as "Fargo's" Marge Gunderson was.

Here's just a tiny example of Hogan's brilliance. At one point, Blanche, getting defensive about big-city interference in New Ulm, says of Minnesotans, "We talk funny, we ice-fish, we scrapbook and we drag Jesus into regular conversations." In a lot of movies, that would be a smug little joke. In this one, Hogan transforms it into a simple, proud statement of fact.

Movie critic Chris Hewitt can be reached at 651-228-5552.

"NEW IN TOWN"

Directed by: Jonas Elmer

Starring: Renee Zellweger, Harry Connick Jr., Siobhan Fallon Hogan

Rated: PG-13, for language

Should you go? Yes. It's much better than it looks in the ads, and Hogan — one of our best comic actresses dating back at least as far as 1996's "Striptease" — finally gets a role that's worthy of her. ***