An all-star cast with memorable performances by Helen Hunt, Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler and Colin Firth powers this smart, funny drama about love and destiny. Desperate to start a family, schoolteacher April Epner (Hunt) is thrown into confusion when she is unexpectedly abandoned by her husband (Broderick). She gets another shock when she meets her unusual birth mother (Midler), a self-centered talk show host who's not exactly the ideal mom. At first she rejects her, along with the attentions of a divorced dad (Firth), but then she begins to find her life opening up in ways she had never imagined.
Like all the most intriguing titles, Then She Found Me lends itself to multiple interpretations. Does "she" refer to New York talk-show host Bernice (Bette Midler, in a welcome return to the screen), the self-proclaimed birth parent who enters the life of schoolteacher April (Oscar winner Helen Hunt) upon the death of her adoptive mother? Or does the pronoun refer to April, who meets divorced dad Frank (Colin Firth) the day her marriage to co-worker Ben (Matthew Broderick) comes to an abrupt halt? The surprising conclusion to Hunt's directorial debut suggests a third interpretation. In adapting Elinor Lipman's novel, Hunt treads well-worn ground, but does so with grace and sensitivity. When Ben walks out on his 39-year-old wife, she fears he's left with her chances of having a baby. As much as she enjoyed her childhood, April would prefer not to adopt, and with the support of her non-adopted brother, Freddy (Ben Shenkman), she struggles to reconcile her warm feelings towards the awkward Frank with her chilly reaction to the slippery Bernice. Though April has a hard time imagining they could be related, the teacher and the TV personality both want children in their lives, so it's not as if they lack a common bond. When April finds out she's pregnant, further complications ensue. Though Then She Found Me circles Lifetime movie-of-the-week territory, Hunt resists the urge to smooth away her characters' rough edges, investing her film with the crackle of real life. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.0 / 5.0
worth watching-once:
This is a movie with good acting and a pessimistic story. I, personally, don't enjoy watching non-uplifting stories more than once. I really enjoy seeing Bette Midler in movies, but her storyline was odd and didn't seem realistic compared with the gritty reality of the rest of the movie.
Hunt's Good....Movie ISN'T!:
Wow...what a jumpy, choppy, uninteresting story. There are many great actors in this movie that just seem lost. Hunt does a great job with her character, but the movie isn't strong enough for it. Broderick was just an extra it seemed, appearing in random segments. Midler's performance was annoying. Poor Firth should have picked a better script as well. Don't bother with this one. This movie just proves the extreme excess that Hollywood pays for substandard quality.
Painstakingly boring.:
There are many movies that don't get made for a long time because people are afraid to take a financial risk on something different. There are other movies that maybe just shouldn't be made. This is the latter. I can't give it one star because it was well acted. The few people who recognize this title probably sought it out and are into a very niche sort of veiwer. They will like this because it is what it is. A bad Lifetime movie sort of offering but well acted and filmed. This movie just isn't compelling... more info
Betrayal:
After recently watching Twister again, it made me want to see what Helen Hunt was doing. "Then She Found Me" finds Hunt working as screenwriter, director, actress & producer. It is quite a lot for one project, which may explain why the film works only moderately well. In the DVD extras, Hunt discusses making the rookie director mistake of acting in your own movie, but defends it because she wouldn't have "had time to communicate to another actress." The result doesn't support the viewpoint. Hunt looks... more info
