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There’s a line from a Garth Brooks song, “Some of God’s
greatest gifts are unanswered prayers”, and that sums up this film
perfectly. That sometimes what you think you want is not what you need.
April Epner is an adopted child, with her 40th birthday looming around the
corner. She’s a dedicated and nurturing teacher who desperately wants to
nurture children of her own. Within the space of 24 hours, April’s life as
she knows it, changes forever with the demise of her marriage and her
mother’s death. But Helen Hunt never lets April fall into the trap of
maudlin histrionics. We feel April’s pain, understand the empty places
that now reside in her heart, but we also see the quiet strength she
musters to carry on. In a lesser actress this feat would have been
impossible.
Matthew Broderick is what became of Ferris Bueller at 40; a man-child
incapable of making the transition to adulthood. I wanted to slap him, so
I can say that Matthew nailed Ben perfectly. April is better off without
Ben, but she’ll realize that later.
And Bette Midler – what can I say about the Divine Miss M, except she’s a
hoot to watch as the brash, pushy and somewhat dishonest Bernice. Bernice
is a “force of nature” and blithely disregards April’s wariness of her.
Wanting to undue the mistake of giving April away, she bullies and
connives her way into April’s life, but you forgive her for it. To quote
Helen, she brought enough of her, “Bette Midlerness”, to the role without
going over the top, which would have been so easy to do. Bette gave us
Bernice without making her a caricature.
Now the best for last… Colin. Does he ever disappoint? No, I believe he’s
incapable of it. Colin owns this role as the beleaguered Frank, a kindred
spirit for April, who has also taken a direct hit to the heart. A man with
enough baggage of his own to open up his own luggage store. His wife, a
serial cheat has run off and left him to care for their two young
children. Colin is so genuine as Frank, a man wounded by love, trying to
keep it together for his children. And he looks gorgeous as ever. Think
Paul in FP, scruffy and sweary. In Colin’s capable hands, we see the
scars, the pain; the bleary-eyed confusion of a man trying to make some
sense of his life that no longer makes sense. There is no trace of Darcy
here, as Colin pours out an emotional and passionate performance. Now I
wouldn’t have minded if we saw a bit of skin, there’s no nudity in the
movie, but the scenes between him and April will leave you breathless and
fuel your own fantasies for days to come. And he has such comedic timing
as well. Colin knows exactly how to deliver the joke, with that cheeky
demeanor we all love about him.
There was only one scene that I had trouble with. When Frank declares his
love for April and she shares her own feelings for him. I thought it was
too early in the relationship considering the emotional meat grinder these
two had gone through. But hey… it’s the movies and I am not about to
criticize hearing Colin whisper sweet nothings even though they were not
directed to me. A girl can dream.
To sum up, this film exceeded my expectations. It's about the things we
lose, but also the things we find along the way. How that sometimes when
our dreams are restored to us, they are in a completely different way. And
that turns out to be the right way after all.
Cindi - 12 September 2007
Website co-admin
attended two screenings at TIFF '07 |
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Critics' Kudos:
Joe Leydon, Variety "Thesp Helen Hunt makes an exceptionally deft
and self-assured debut as a multi-hyphenate with "Then She Found Me," a
smart, subtle and seriously funny dramedy bound to find favor with
sophisticated auds. Hunt the auteur is well-served by Hunt the actress in
the lead role of April Epner, a 39-year-old New York schoolteacher who's
painfully aware of her ticking biological time clock.
"Working from a novel by Elinor Lipman, which she adapted with co-scripters
Alice Arlen and Victor Levin, Hunt prioritizes consistency of tone and
appropriateness of scale, even while maneuvering through vertiginous mood
swings. Pic often is extremely funny, but the comedy always remains rooted
in sharply and warmly observed reality. (A nice touch: Most of the
characters are Jewish, and their traditions clearly mean much to them.)
"Hunt effectively deglamorizes herself as Alice(ie:April), often appearing
positively gaunt as the schoolteacher steels herself for life's next
curveball. At the same time, she conveys nimble intelligence and
self-deprecating humor, winning attributes that solidify her claim on aud
sympathies. As a filmmaker, Hunt makes wise choices with a consistency
that bespeaks of skill and sensitivity. Better still, she avoids
predictability.
"That Bernice (Bette Midler) remains amusing and engaging is a tribute to
Midler's shrewd underplaying of a character that could come off as a
caricature. The same sort of emotional truth resounds in [Colin] Firth's
portrayal of sweet-natured fellow who's genuinely startling in his
ferocious anger and deep anguish when he feels he has been betrayed. Ben
may be the most lightweight character in the mix, but Matthew [Broderick]
makes the fellow's Peter Pan Syndrome oddly poignant. Production values
are solid for a small-budget indie."
John DeFore, The Hollywood Reporter: (Bottom Line: Assured
directing debut by Helen Hunt is a rom-dramedy for adults.) "Playing like
an adult woman's rejoinder to the Peter Pan factor in recent rom-coms,
Then She Found Me prefers the mature man to the overgrown boy, gets
knocked up without freaking out, and never -- well, maybe once -- goes for
the startling gag over the pointed observation. With subtle laughs but
solid emotional thrust, it will play very well with older audiences.
"Hunt aims for restrained believability, rather than glossy bounce. The
script isn't afraid to crack a joke, but it also doesn't want to exploit
April's (Hunt's) angst for cute laughs; accordingly, Hunt the director
allows Hunt the actress to look realistically beat-down from time to time.
The relatively sober mood means that when things turn ugly, the blow-ups
don't come off as manufactured plot points. (That's particularly true with
Firth's character, a memorably damaged suitor.)
"The picture is set apart not only by its tone but by the way it takes
seriously some elements that might get reduced to window-dressing in a
movie more carefully engineered to reach the broadest audience: details of
the protagonist's Jewish upbringing, for instance, but especially the
attitude toward children, who here aren't fashion accessories but an
essential part of the way April and Frank think about where they stand
with each other.
"That's not the kind of consequence-factoring theme you find in the
average date movie, but it helps give Then She Found Me a character that
many viewers will respond to."
David Nussair, Reel Film Reviews: "A charming and downright
delightful spin on the romantic comedy genre. The movie is often genuinely
hilarious. The uniformly strong performances - with Hunt herself
particularly good here - cement the film's place as an above-average
romcom, and it's ultimately difficult to resist the various
audience-pleasing attributes that have been hard-wired into Then She Found
Me."
Ryan Stewart, Cinematical: "Then She Found Me is executed with
style. Sometimes charming, occasionally funny, it never draws attention to
itself as the work of a director with training wheels on. Then She Found
Me deserves some credit for going a more complicated route and portraying
all of these characters as seriously flawed.
"Helen Hunt is good at playing the wounded or betrayed woman, and she
understandably gives herself several opportunities to shine in this
performance.
"Hunt has shown enough proficiency with her first film that I'd certainly
be open to seeing more stuff by her in the future. She certainly knows how
to handle the basics of moviemaking and how to put an intriguing cast
together -- apart from scoring Bette Midler and Colin Firth and Matthew
Broderick, she also got Salman Rushdie to appear in this thing, if you can
believe that. Rushdie plays a doctor who performs sonograms on April a
couple of times throughout the film."
Bonnie Fazio, Reel.Com: "Then She Found Me has its pleasures. Bette
Midler is one of them. Colin Firth is in great form—brooding, smoldering,
and kissing April in fine Mr. Darcy fashion—and at one point giving her
what-for in his plummy British stage-actor voice. It's safe to say women
everywhere are grateful for all the Colin Firth they can get, and the
Darcyer the better. Hunt is fine as April.
"Over all, the film pleases. Hunt won an audience award for this movie at
the Palm Springs International Film Festival, which tells you that it—or
at least she—is resonating with some viewers. Also, it tentatively
explores a couple of interesting themes, such as parenthood and identity.
See it if the subject matter intrigues, or you're a fan of one or more of
the actors." |
Then She Found Me, directed and co-written by
Helen Hunt, who also stars, is a funny and touching story about the way we
create families both by blood and by choice. April Epner (Hunt) is 39 and
her biological clock is sounding an alarm. When she gets dumped by her
charming but adolescent husband (Matthew Broderick, who specializes in
such things) as a marital mistake, one door closes, but another one bursts
open. Enter Bette Midler, as a brash, overwhelming and thoroughly
obnoxious talk show host named Bernice, who drops in out of the blue to
declare herself April’s biological mother. The jaw-dropping cherry on top
of the Sunday sundae: April is the result of a one-night stand Bernice had
40 years ago with Steve McQueen.
Both devastated and baffled, April finds an escape from her screwed-up
life in the arms of Frank (Colin Firth, who steals the movie), a
handsome, warm, understanding and conveniently single father whose wife
deserted him and their children. Mothering a ready-made family and
tackling a new relationship at the same time presents double jeopardy, but
the emotional minefields really explode when April discovers she is
pregnant herself! Events unfold with a quiet dramatic trajectory,
interrupted by unnerving needle pricks of humor. Always there is the
thread of moody, contemplative silences as affecting as two bare feet
touching under a cafe table. What’s lacking in big emotional outbursts is
compensated by Ms. Hunt’s desire to explore a woman’s most painful
anxieties.
O.K., it’s not Barbara Stanwyck in No Man of Her Own or even Lucille Ball
in Yours, Mine and Ours. But the
Hunt-Firth team has a glowing chemistry; the human strain in
his eyes and on his brow is unsentimental but on the verge of tears.
Midler has her moments, too. Less fun since she turned from the Divine
Miss M into the head of the local Hadassah, she’s still a force of nature
capable of creating her own bombast, to the detriment of anybody who
shares the screen. She’s a fine catalyst as the larger-than-life hurricane
who forces April to question the neat, dull, cookie-cutter existence she’s
ordered for herself, as if from a caterer. Debuts can be dicey, but as a
director, Helen Hunt handles the reins sweetly, but with control and
finesse. Actors directing themselves: Not always a good idea, but this
time you go away impressed. |
