Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Then She Found Me

Helen Hunt's feature film directorial debut explores the different meanings of family and stars a great group of actors. Then She Found Me stars Hunt as April, a NYC teacher who was adopted by a Jewish family as a child, and married to fellow teacher, man-child Matthew Broderick. She's desperate to have a child of her own, but at 39, it's not been easy. In fast succession Broderick decides he can't live the life she wants, and her adopted mother dies. A few days later, April's biological mother, a super-kooky daytime TV show host played by Bette Middler, gets in touch and wants a relationship. Meanwhile, Hunt has gotten to know the parent of one of her students, single dad Colin Firth. Lots of various lies are told, revealed, apologized for, forgiven and a little more sex happens. Hunt struggles with what it meant to be adopted and what her own family might look like. Firth is terrific, outgoing and compassionate with the same mystery as his famous Mr. Darcy. Ben Shenkman plays Hunt's adopted brother really well, I'm surprised he doesn't get more work. It's a good independent movie that tells the story a little differently than others. Plus, the scenery around NYC is always fun to watch. 3.5 stars/LAMBs

1 comment:

Reel Whore said...

This was a great little movie. I hope its given its due now that its on DVD.