“New Life,” a film touted as a “genre blender,” is director John Rosman’s first full-length feature and, yeah, one can tell. It’s a hodgepodge, Mr. Rosman’s picture, and less blended than lumpy. 

The stitchery shows in the overdetermined symmetry of its two-pronged storyline and in cinematic tics that are studied when they’re not flashy. The editing is tricked-up and the supra-orchestral soundtrack feels tacked-on — that is, when it isn’t overbearing. At this point in Mr. Rosman’s career, enthusiasm trumps ability.