 | |
List Price: $14.98 | | Label: THINKFILM
Salesrank: 12801
Released: September 2, 2008 |
| Our Price: $3.90 |
| Used Price: $0.97 |
|
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
|
Editorial Review:
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.
Description of Then She Found Me:
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
Then She Found Me Reviews:
Superb 
2009-11-04 - This is about as perfect a lttle film as I have ever seen. Took me a month to get thru it; had to keep stopping it. Sort of a Terms of Endearment...the Jewish version. It punched like 16 holes in my chest, it just keeps blind siding you. Get the kleenex ready.
Life is Complicated
2009-08-16 - This was an absorbing movie, and drew tears toward its conclusion. The best word to describe the movie and its point of view is "complicated." People do the wrong things for the right reasons, or the right things for wrong reasons and so on.
In brief, Helen Hunt directs and stars in the only DVD I know of that explores the deep emotions of a woman who wants a child while her mind and heart are complicated by three different abandonments: she was given away by her birth mother (Bette Midler) and is adopted; her new husband (Matthew Broderick) leaves her after a very short period; and she loses her first baby, all while driving away a serious (complicated) man (Colin Firth).
Make-up is to be praised, I have never seen Helen Hunt look so drawn and aged and "wanting."
The actors are all great, with Hunt and Firth being the featured actors and Broderick (the perfect Jewish mama's boy) and Middler being supporting actors.
An excellent,thoughtful, complicated story told very very well.
Then she found me. 
2009-08-09 - Was watching TV and ran into this movie. Couldn't watch the rest of it and by chance I just looked it up on Amazon. Like always I wasn't let down, they had it and it was so affordable I just ordered it and got to finish watching it. Wasn't the best but I enjoyed it....
Formidable directorial debut 
2009-08-03 - Mr. Uyeshima's review provides a wonderful and accurate description of this film. I have little to add, but do recommend Then She Found Me, if the viewer understands that this is not a mainstream Hollywood romance. Those seeking yet another reprisal of a Colin Firth as Darcy to a modern day Elizabeth Bennett treatment probably will be disappointed. The film has many layers, with a primary focus on betrayal, not just formulaic romantic love. I read some complaints that reviewers didn't find the characters likable and found Ms. Hunt not glamorous enough. One of the things I enjoyed most was more realistic, complex portrayal of human foibles than we're often given in film today. I laughed when I read the comments about Ms. Hunt's appearance, because this basically is what you look like when it all comes crashing down around you. You can relate to these characters. They are quite imperfectly human.
I like it. This is a film for adults, which is a such rarity these days. There is a lot of heart to the story and its characters. Lots of lovely subtleties in scenery, music, costuming, etc. The cast is superb, comedy is generally smartly written and well delivered. Formulaic aspects to some story lines, but it was thought-provoking overall, and well worth viewing.
I'm a fan of Helen Hunt as an actress and am proud to see such a strong directorial debut. I hope she continues. I really recommend checking out the Special Features section of the DVD, especially the interviews and featurette. Those interested in film making will enjoy Ms. Hunt's commentary, much of which focuses on the creative detail of telling the story, especially with little budget and limited time.
I think this film deserved more of a chance than it got. It's not a "chick flick," fluffy romance or Lifetime movie. It's an adult comedy-drama with a thought-provoking theme and wonderful performances. Not a perfect film, by any means, but better in its genre than I've seen in awhile.
head and shoulders above
2009-07-16 - This movie is way above the category of "entertainment" though it has some entertaining moments. Without spoiling the story it is about betrayals, both real and imputed, both small and cosmic, and a way to step beyond living in anger, fear, and self doubt. It was written and produced on a minimal budget by Helen Hunt. Her writing and re-writing of the screenplay took nearly ten years. This should not be taken as an indication of Hunt being a poor writer, but quite the reverse. It some ways the screen play was over-written particularly relative to a popular audience. It is a rich example of psychological literature done as a film. It is in essence a version of the Rapunzel story, the adult version not the trite nonsense usually offered to children. Firth plays in effect the blinded Prince. It is one of the very, very few contexts that address the prevalence of the puerella pattern of behavior, beyond the more familiar As Helen described the process in the features she took the lead role, just because it was an easier thing to do than to explain what she wanted from another actor. As an actor and producer and director she does an outstanding job with a difficult story. The richness of the roles performed by both Bette Midler and Colin Firth are also well above average. This film deserves the widest exposure possible. She deserves the resources to direct and produce a much more expansive movie, but will not likely get it due to profitability of entertaining us to death and to stupor. It addresses the rites of passage of both the puer and the puella, and those who embrace the transition and those that hide from it. After watching it I was in a daze thinking about its segments for several days, and then I had to watch it again, and then again. The title has potentially multiple references. Her re-interpretation of the old Jewish teaching story which frames the story is also amazing. This is a rare movie and deserves to be used in social psychology and social problems classes as required viewing. It will also strike you at your core and possibly change your life. I regret that anyone would presume to rate this work as solely a piece of entertainment or visual narcotic. First and foremost it is raw pathos of the highest level. It will make you uncomfortable, and that is a very, good thing.
