If you’ve asked yourself whatever happened to Helen Hunt lately, then here’s your answer – ‘Then She Found Me’ is her self-assured directorial debut; a slightly uneven but wholly enjoyable dramedy that should fit right in at home and find a more appreciative audience after it’s virtually ignored theatrical trip.
Helen Hunt - who scored a Best Actress award for ‘As Good As It Gets’ in 1997 and went on to the 2000 holiday season double whammy of ‘What Women Want’ and ‘Castaway’, both huge hits – has been peculiarly absent from the screen the past eight years.
With the exception of the DOA Woody Allen pic ‘The Curse of the Jade Scorpion’ as well as the little-seen ‘A Good Woman’ and ‘Bobby’, Hunt has seemingly taken herself out of the Hollywood game.
Or maybe she was just tired of those second banana roles – making what she can opposite Tom Hanks and Mel Gibson – and found that what she was offered was nothing challenging, nothing new. At least, self-exile a la Andy Millman from ‘Extras’ is how I’d like to think it all went down.
And this pic further cements my theory as it looks like Hunt decided to take her career in her own hands and fashion the kind of role that wouldn’t be bankrolled by Hollywood unless Colin Firth’s character was the lead…and the character was played by Hugh Grant.
Nepotism rears its ugly head in Hollywood yet again as Helen Hunt the director casts Helen Hunt the actress in the lead role (yes, that was a joke…) of April Epner, a 39-year-old New York schoolteacher whose biological clock is ticking away with fervor when her man-child of a husband, Ben (Matthew Broderick), leaves her after only a few months of marriage to move back in with his mom.
Coinciding with this is the entrance of Frank (Colin Firth), a recently divorced dad of one of her students, whose frazzled, survival instincts-alone life seems to meet her own miserable life half-way. And again in the spirit of one relationship ending and another beginning, April’s adoptive mother dies and her real mother suddenly appears, wanting to be a part of her life again.
Her real mom, Bernice (Bette Midler), is everything she’s not – outspoken, flashy and wealthy from being a local TV talkshow host – and April is understandably skeptical due to the timing and the outlandish lies Bernice first tries to lay on her (‘your father was Steve McQueen’). On the cusp of two possibly important relationships, April has to decide just how miserable she wants to be…
Based on Elinor Lipman’s 1990 novel, which Helen Hunt adapted with co-scripters Alice Arlen and Victor Levin, the big scripting trick was balancing a tone that walks that fine between misery and comedy and everything in between. In this respect, I was reminded of some of those great female-driven 70s dramedies like ‘Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore’ and ‘An Unmarried Woman’ where the comedy is a firm side-effect of wry observation of the characters realities. Nothing seems forced in this world with the exception of some obvious casting calls and an unnecessary cameo from Salman Rushdie.
Those obvious casting calls won’t get points for creativity – Broderick as a middle-aged man who needs to grow up and Firth as the bumbling but perfect single dad – but there’s no arguing the effectiveness and Hunt shows up gaunt, tired and ready to play with a character not altogether primed to claim the sympathies of the audience; sometimes an iffy bet.
Bette Midler is the coup here though and her presence is a sore reminder that Midler was a once formidable dramatic and comedic actress. I can safely say this is her best performance in years and her reveal in the pic gives a much-needed boost of charisma. Striking all of the right notes, Midler stops just short of her 80s zaniness in a few sequences and the comedy was much appreciated.
The film is presented with a 1080p 1.78:1 transfer and the result is a solid if not exceptional picture. The look of the pic is intentionally very soft which rightly matches the tone of the film so detail and colors will inherently be soft too but close-ups offer some high-def goodness. Ultimately not a film that screams to be high-def, but 1080p never hurts…
Special Features include a feature-length audio commentary from Helen Hunt who focuses mostly on the hurdles of production and trying to pull together a low-budget first pic. A 11-minute featurette and a 15-minute ‘Interviews’ segment with the major cast and crew round out the extras along with the trailer.
A solid directing debut for Hunt who clearly wanted to try her hand at some emotional truth, the cast does a great job backing up a script that gets more rewarding as it goes along.
Hunt and Midler shine as daughter and mother and Midler finesses a tricky role with commendable restraint. The high-def A/V is nice but probably wouldn’t be a deal breaker for those weighing the price difference of the standard def…
Then She Found Me [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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