The tut-tuttingly dull script refuses to supply a single happy line until Hunt squares up to the sudden arrival of Bette Midler.
Then She Found Me (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:112
Fresh:57
Rotten:55
Average Rating:5.5/10
Consensus: A threadbare story anchored by strong performances, Then She Found Me is a mostly successful directorial debut by Helen Hunt.
Australian Rating: M [See Full Rating] Moderate sexual references and coarse language
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Genre: Comedies
Australian Theatrical Release:
Jul 24, 2008 Wide
US Box Office: $3,728,972
Synopsis: The move from actor to director can be a difficult one, but actress Helen Hunt makes the transition seem effortless with THEN SHE FOUND ME. Hunt, who also produced and cowrote the film, plays April... The move from actor to director can be a difficult one, but actress Helen Hunt makes the transition seem effortless with THEN SHE FOUND ME. Hunt, who also produced and cowrote the film, plays April Epner, a down-on-her-luck schoolteacher who longs to have a child. April's chances of bringing a baby into the world are diminished when her husband, Ben (Matthew Broderick), leaves her, and more bad news follows when her adoptive mother dies. The beleaguered April subsequently forms an unexpected bond with her real mother, the overbearing TV host Bernice (Bette Midler), and takes tentative steps towards motherhood with a new man in her life, the bumbling Frank (Colin Firth). Hunt's film, which is based on the novel of the same name by Elinor Lipman, is likely to win over fans of classic rom-coms such as WHEN HARRY MET SALLY and YOU'VE GOT MAIL. At its heart the film poses some thoughtful observations on what a late-30s woman goes through when she is facing a possibly childless future. But Hunt also stirs some generous scoops of humor into the plot, providing light relief from her central character's plight, and also demonstrating her range as a writer/director. The cast members are uniformly excellent throughout, with Firth and Hunt giving strong performances that are helped along by a supporting cast that provides most of the comic relief. Hunt even finds time to provide a small role for the writer Salman Rushdie, who plays a doctor. [More]
Starring: Helen Hunt, Bette Midler, Colin Firth, Matthew Broderick
Starring: Helen Hunt, Bette Midler, Colin Firth, Matthew Broderick, Ben Shankman
Director: Helen Hunt
Director: Helen Hunt
Screenwriter: Helen Hunt, Vic Levin, Alice Arlen
Producer: Pamela Koffler, Katie Roumel, Christine Vachon, Helen Hunt, Connie Tavel
Composer: David Mansfield
Studio: ThinkFilm
Reviews for Then She Found Me
Hunt’s film does soften the heart, not least because of its honesty and its sensitivity to some unfashionable dilemmas.
There’s food for thought in the pregnancy plot, although the narrative drags its heels towards a misty-eyed conclusion.
Helen Hunt makes an impressive directorial debut and gives a defiantly vanity-free performance in this engaging drama that also features strong support from Colin Firth and Bette Midler.
A bittersweet combination of comedy and drama, this sensitive film has enough strong material in it to make it worth seeing, even if it sometimes feels under-developed and a little too heart-tugging
Colin Firth ... he steams a bit for a change in a tale that's strictly so-soap.
What at first seems a morose if witty romantic comedy for adults ends up being an altogether more serious piece about a woman acquiring children but leaving behind childish things.
A highly satisfying old-fashioned comedy-drama...[with] a strong undercurrent of religion and philosophy that helps Hunt make her film profound in a way that sneaks up on you. [Blu-ray]
From the looks of things, the actors were simply let loose as themselves.
About the most interesting thing about this uninteresting nervous dramedy is the casting of controversial writer Salman Rushdie as a gynecologist.
Then She Found Me is a commendable but not very exciting feature-directing debut by actress Helen Hunt. Although she wields most of the creative power on the film she doesn't turn this into a vanity project.
Both role and movie fit [Hunt] as comfortable as a favorite bathrobe, and she wins us over long before the final tiny twist of the ending.
... might be viewed as a symptom of a Hollywood system in which women of a certain age are devalued and ignored.
Resembles a heartfelt but out-of-tune karaoke version of 'I Am Woman'.
The material isn't much different from a Woody Allen film, but, unfortunately, the execution is.
Other than perhaps being a little long in the tooth to have Colin Firth's character convincingly going gaga over her, Helen Hunt has done a decent job of directing a 'chick flick' which ought to be a hit with the distaff demographic.
Helen Hunt stars in, directed and co-wrote Then She Found Me, and she handles each chore beautifully.
As unhealthy-looking as a Dust Bowl migrant in a Dorothea Lange portrait, Hunt appears to have wandered onto the set in hopes of finding something to chew.
Latest News for Then She Found Me
September 19, 2008:
UK Critics Consensus: Tropic Thunder Soldiers On; Then She Found Me Is Found Out
This week's UK releases, expect big laughs as Ben Stiller's star-studded Hollywood satire comedy blasts onto our screens in Tropic Thunder. The sound of a big old biological... More...
May 25, 2008:
Helen Hunt makes decent directorial debut with bittersweet romantic comedy. ![]()
More...
April 21, 2008:
Then She Found Me a Labor of Love for Helen Hunt ![]()
After some time away from the spotlight, Helen Hunt has re-emerged as the producer, director, co-writer, and star of an adaptation of Elinor Lipman's novel Then She Found Me. More...
April 13, 2008:
Trailer & Poster review ![]()
More...
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